He’s been in the spotlight since before he took his first breath of rarefied Beckham air.
When his mother was expecting him, the story of her pregnancy was sold to a magazine. When he was a newborn his first pictures were sold to the highest bidder, as was a tour of his nursery.
Brooklyn was four months old when he featured in pictures at his parents’ wedding at a castle in Ireland, with his mom and dad staying up until 3am to decide which pics would appear in the publication that forked out a hefty £1 million (R22 million) for them.
As the years went on more babies arrived and more pictures appeared, to the extent that Victoria Beckham even quipped that her kids thought Heat magazine was “our family photo album”.
The children starred in campaigns, attended glamorous events and were front and centre of many, many social media postings – always happy, always smiling, clearly doted on by their parents.
For all intents and purposes the Beckhams were the picture-perfect family – but oh, how that image has been shattered.
It’s no secret the Beckham unit was wobbling: you can’t be as out-there as Posh and Becks without people twigging there’s trouble in Brand Beckham paradise.
Brooklyn, ensconced in a Los Angeles glam-pad paid for by his wife Nicola’s dad, cut ties with his family, blocked them on Instagram amd shunned milestone events in their lives.
READ MORE | David Beckham can’t hide his heartbreak as family feud with Brooklyn continues
But the full extent of his rage against the Beckham machine was laid bare when the 26-year-old dropped a six-page Instagram story recently, unleashing a blistering attack on his parents – and Posh in particular.
And it’s become the juiciest family drama since Prince Harry fled the royal family. Brooklyn has, in fact, been accused of “doing a Harry” and dishing the dirt on his people – and the internet has been having a field day.
He’s been called a brat, a whiner, an ungrateful nepo baby airing his dirty laundry in public. Memes have abounded, comments have poured in, skits have flourished.
Videos of Posh dancing over the years have flooded feeds after Brooklyn accused her of hijacking the first dance at his wedding and dancing “very inappropriately on me”.
The actual video of the dance is believed to be in his possession and has arguably become the most sought-after clip on the planet.
The Beckhams made a united appearance in Paris recently where Victoria was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. She and David were joined by sons Romeo (far left) and Cruz (far right) and daughter Harper, as well as Romeo and Cruz’s girlfriends, Kim Turnbull and Jackie Apostel.
PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images
Still, it hasn’t all been bad news for Posh. The furore has seen her 2001 solo song Not Such An Innocent Girl rocket to the top of the download charts after it was rediscovered and streamed by the public.
Victoria is said to be touched by this. “It put a smile on her face,” a friend says.
But it’s a tiny crumb. The brand and the family she and her husband built up for decades have been ripped apart by a child they adore – a child who’s now closer to Nicola’s family and her formidable billionaire father than the people who raised him.
SO WHY DID HE DO IT?
The Beckhams in happier days: (from left) Brooklyn, Nicola, Harper, David, Cruz and Victoria.
PHOTO: Instagram/Brooklynpeltzbeckham
Aspiring chef Brooklyn is said to have reached tipping point after his mom liked a post he shared about roasting a chicken.
He’d apparently repeatedly asked his parents to stop communicating with him on social media and to deal with him via his lawyers.
READ MORE | Seawater pasta, R7 000 omelettes: 5 chaotic dishes from Brooklyn Peltz Beckham’s kitchen
He retaliated by kicking all the Beckhams – even 14-year-old Harper – off his social media.
“I have been silent for years and have made every attempt to keep these matters private,” Brooklyn writes.
Unfortunately, my parents and their team have continued to go to the press, leaving me no choice but to speak for myself
Brooklyn Beckham
How exactly Posh and Becks went to the press is unclear – the couple have yet to say a negative word about their son in public.
But Brooklyn has major beef. “I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life,” he continues, adding it gave him “uncontrollable anxiety”.
“For the first time in my life, stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared. I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose. My wife and I do not want to be shaped by image, press or manipulation.
“All we want is peace, privacy and happiness for our future family.”
Nicola’s parents, Nelson and Claudia Peltz, at her and Brooklyn’s vow renewal ceremony last year, which Posh and Becks were not invited to.
PHOTO: Instagram/Nicolaannepeltzbeckham
It’s for this reason they renewed their vows in August last year, he adds.
“We wanted to create new memories of our wedding – ones that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment.”
Yet recollections may vary.
This is a comment Queen Elizabeth made after Harry started dissing his family in public and it seems apt now.
Take the wedding dress issue, for instance. Brooklyn claims his mom pulled out of making Nicola’s gown “at the 11th hour, forcing her to urgently find a new dress” for the lavish 2022 ceremony at the Peltz family’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.
But a resurfaced Vogue article shows the Valentino gown the bride ended up wearing was “chosen with the help of her stylist Leslie Fremar and was the culmination of a year’s worth of conversations”.
Brooklyn and Nicola at their 2022 weddng.
PHOTO: German Larkin/Vogue/Instagram/Beem
Then there’s that dance. Brooklyn says his mom robbed him of his first go on the floor with his wife and the way she performed was the low point of his life.
“I’ve never felt more uncomfor-table or humiliated.”
Yet there are several accounts saying this wasn’t the first dance. Brooklyn and Nicola had it to Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love, performed by South African singer Lloyiso.
READ MORE | #Boymum culture: Is it to blame for the Beckhams’ family drama?
There was also a second song for the newlyweds, Ben E King’s Stand By Me.
But Brooklyn says, “In front of our 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule it was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife, but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead.”
Singer Marc Anthony, it seems, should be taking some of the heat that’s been heaped on Posh.
WHAT WENT DOWN
DJ Fat Tony (right) has spoken out about the disastrous first wedding dance, saying singer Marc Antony was to blame.
PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images/
As the fallout raged, DJ Fat Tony, who played at the wedding, went on ITV to voice his recollections.
“Marc was on stage and calls to Brooklyn. He then asks for the most beautiful woman in the room to come up – and he names Victoria. Of course at that point Brooklyn is suddenly, literally, devastated because he thought he was going to do the dance with his wife.”
The song, reportedly Marc’s You Sang to Me, started to play and the singer told Brooklyn “to put your hands on your mother’s hips”.
It was really awkward for everyone in the room
Fat Tony
But there was no lewd dancing, he adds. “There was no slut-dropping or black PVC catsuits or Spice Girls action. It was a slow song.”
Nicola, however, was devastated and ran out of the room in tears, fleeing to the mansion’s guesthouse where she was consoled by her mom and siblings.
“She was crying her eyes out,” Fat Tony says. The bride reappeared later with a swollen face.
Marc, who was hired by the Beckhams, also gave a “rambling speech” about how lucky Brooklyn and Nicola would be to have a marriage as wonderful as Posh and Becks’. This didn’t go down well with Nicola’s parents, Nelson and Claudia, who’ve been wed for 40 years and have eight kids.
Fat Tony says Brooklyn is “upset about a lot of things”.
“Sometimes the smallest of things can become bigger than the biggest of things because it highlights it.”
BLAME IT ON BRAND BECKHAM
Brooklyn also tore into his parents’ £500m (R11 billion) megabrand. “My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else,” he writes. “Brand Beckham comes first. Family ‘love’ is decided by how much you post on social media to show our ‘perfect family’.”
READ MORE | Brooklyn Beckham says he wants to be a young dad like his father
This comment is bound to have devastated Posh and Becks, who love their children and have always been a physically affectionate family, a friend says.
It was authentic. David and Victoria are soppy parents and yet she’s been blamed for it.
“It’s deeply unfair and upsetting.”
David still kisses the boys when they come home – they’ve always been close and cuddly – and Brooklyn has been tactile too
Beckham family friend
But Brand Beckham is important to them too and there were suspicions at the time the couple used their son’s wedding to push it.
David gifted the newlyweds a £350 000 (R7,7m) powder-blue vintage Jaguar that had been converted into an electric vehicle – which might seem like a generous gesture except for the fact that Becks was an investor in the company that converted the car.
David Lorenz, the CEO of Lunaz, issued a statement afterwards. “We are honoured to bridge the gap between David Beckham’s professional life, where he is an investor in Lunaz, and his family life. This remarkable car is the perfect gift to his son and daughter-in-law. In every respect this extraordinary electric classic car by Lunaz symbolises a bright, positive future.”
Maybe not that bright in all respects, though.
THE PELTZ POWER
Posh and Becks arrive at Brooklyn and Nicola’s wedding, held at the Peltz estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
PHOTO: German Larkin/Vogue/Instagram/BEEM
At the heart of Brooklyn’s missive is that his parents are misogynists for blaming Nicola (31) for the collapse of family relations.
“My wife has been consistently disrespected by my family, no matter how hard we’ve tried to come together as one. My mum has repeatedly invited women from my past into our lives in a way that make us both uncomfortable.”
He also says the “narrative that my wife controls me is completely backwards”.
I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life
Brooklyn Beckham
Yet there are concerns the Peltz family may have been behind Brooklyn’s statement and that he may not have written it himself.
“There’s no way he wrote that,” a Beckham insider says. “There are too many Americanisms in it, for starters, and it is, without being cruel, far too eloquent for Brooklyn. What 26-year-old man writes his parents a six-page letter?”
READ MORE | The one piece of marriage advice David Beckham shared with his son Brooklyn
One thing’s for sure: the Peltzes aren’t a family to be messed with. Posh and Becks are small fry compared to Nicola’s family, UK author and investigative journalist Tom Bower says.
“David and Victoria didn’t get it. They thought their celebrity status would be their passport to importance but in Palm Beach, where billionaires are hanging out of every Rolls-Royce, the Brits really don’t matter.”
People in Britain think the Beckhams are rich but by the standards of the Palm Beach aristocracy, they’re nothing
Royal expert Tom Bower
The Peltzes are worth around $1,6bn (R25,6bn). Their Palm Beach home is close to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and they also own a 27-bedroom mansion near New York with its own ice hockey rink.
Nelson (83) is still one of the most successful and ruthless financiers on Wall Street, having made his fortune buying struggling companies and building them into empires. He’s an infamously aggressive businessman and has been des-cribed as “an old bully, just like Trump”.
Bullying claims have followed the family for years – two former drivers sued Nelson for wrongful dismissal in the early 2000s and reports claimed Nicola bullied her Brazilian nanny as a child.
The planners of Brooklyn and Nicola’s wedding sued Nelson after he fired them, calling him a “billionaire bully” in court papers.
Nelson – who funded Nicola’s much-panned movie Lola and has invested in Brooklyn’s hot sauce company Cloud23 – is reportedly disappointed that Brooklyn has yet to find his professional feet.
He was instrumental in making sure the couple had an ironclad pre-nup, which means should they divorce Brooklyn will part with half of whatever money they made as a couple. “If they ever break up, Brooklyn would be completely ostracised without much cash to show for it,” a source says.
Posh and Becks, though, will take him back. “They have absolutely no anger towards him,” a friend says. “They just want him in their lives.”
SOURCES: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK, BBC.COM, EXPRESS.CO.UK, HELLOMAGAZINE.COM, MIRROR.CO.UK, INSTYLE.COM, PEOPLE.COM, THETIMES.COM, VOGOUE.COM
