Just moments before Victoria Beckham took to the stage at London’s Curzon Mayfair to introduce her three-part Netflix documentary, I saw for myself the toll the fallout with her beloved eldest son Brooklyn had taken on her.
For the former Posh Spice turned proud fashion designer, the event on October 8 last year was one of the biggest nights of her career. She’d asked me to meet her in the Green Room, where I found her looking her impeccable glamorous self.
True to form she was going through photographs taken on the red carpet that evening, selecting those she was happy to put into the public domain. I watched as she binned some and approved others, something which is quite normal for an A-list celebrity at their own event.
But I couldn’t help wondering where that wicked sense of humour had gone. Or noticing that she looked even tinier than usual and that there were no giggles – well not until David stepped in to chat and make us laugh (maybe he knew she needed one).
For a woman who had just hosted one of the most exciting projects of her life, Victoria was quiet. I vividly remember thinking: ‘Is she okay?’
It was only when I looked at those family photos for the event and clocked that Brooklyn wasn’t in any of them, that I understood what was bothering her – this was another Beckham family milestone her oldest son had missed.
That night, he was 5,000 miles away at the Los Angeles home he shares with his wife Nicola Peltz. Not only was the 27-year-old influencer absent but there were no flowers, no good luck card, no phone call. Not even a text message.
While I won’t divulge my private conversation with Victoria, it’s fair to say she desperately missed him. Despite the fact she was surrounded by the rest of her doting family, as well as some of her closest friends, her big night was tinged with sadness.
Brooklyn Beckham with his wife Nicola Peltz at an event earlier this year
No doubt her anguish was compounded by the fact that, two years earlier, Brooklyn and Nicola had been at that same venue for the launch of David’s Netflix documentary. For Posh, 52, her event must have been a stark reminder of how much better things had once been and how the feud with Brooklyn and his wife had devastated their lives.
This week marks a year since David and Victoria last had any contact with their son.
I first revealed that relations had turned nasty between them and the Peltz-Beckhams in the run-up to David’s 50th birthday celebrations last year.
As the days went by, it became clear that the presence of Brooklyn and Nicola at the big Beckham festivities was looking more and more unlikely.
Brooklyn and actress Nicola, 31 – the daughter of American billionaire Nelson Peltz, whom he married in a lavish £3million ceremony in April 2022 – flew to London by private jet ostensibly to join David at his string of 50th birthday events. Then didn’t turn up for any of them.
Not that there wasn’t plenty of opportunity. Events included: a boys’ fishing trip to the Scottish Highlands for David and his sons; a big family party at the Beckhams’ £5million Cotswolds converted barn; a trip to a vineyard in Bordeaux followed by a night in Paris and a lavish dinner.
Brooklyn and Nicola, meanwhile, were holed up in a hotel just a couple of miles from his parents’ £25million home in Holland Park, West London.
Shockingly, despite spending a week in the UK, the young couple flew home on May 3 without seeing Brooklyn’s family at all, leaving just a couple of hours before A-listers including Tom Cruise, Gordon Ramsay and Eva Longoria – all of whom Brooklyn had been close to since childhood – gathered at a final friends and family dinner at Core restaurant in London’s Notting Hill.
David, I was told, was crestfallen. As was Victoria, though her sadness was tinged with some anger. It’s clear to me that they blame Nicola, whom they feel controls Brooklyn.
They also believe she is a narcissist and that she will do anything to ‘orchestrate a drama’ to prevent her husband from attending family events.
But nothing could have prepared them for the year of utter despair that has ripped the heart out of the Beckham clan.
Like most people, I held on to the hope that David and Victoria’s relationship with their beloved eldest son could be salvaged but, as time has gone on, it is beginning to look less and less likely.
Brooklyn, Nicola’s parents Nelson and Claudia, and Nicola celebrate Christmas together
Brooklyn’s parents David and Victoria Beckham mark Sir David’s 50th last May
‘They had hoped that it was a bratty strop, that it would blow over. Never, ever did they think it would get to the place it has,’ says a family friend. At first, they thought ‘it was a reaction to [Brooklyn and Nicola] not getting their own way.
‘But it has been one shocking thing after another. Just when things couldn’t get any worse another bomb would drop from the other side of the Atlantic and it would all kick off again.’
The biggest bombshell of all, of course, came in January this year. Brooklyn stunned the world by launching a scathing attack on his family on his Instagram story, just weeks after blocking them on the social media platform.
I wasn’t surprised to hear that it completely blindsided David and Victoria. The six-page ‘notes app’ letter shared in excruciating detail the anger Brooklyn felt towards his parents. One of the most explosive of his claims was that Victoria ‘hijacked’ the first dance at his wedding and danced ‘inappropriately on’ him.
Victoria hit back, with friends of hers telling me that it was in fact a ‘wholesome family moment’ as her close friend singer Marc Anthony performed.
However, Brooklyn said of it: ‘I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.’
Worse still, he said he did not want to reconcile with his parents and accused them of controlling, ‘inauthentic’ behaviour and of trying to destroy his marriage to Nicola. Brooklyn also claimed they sabotaged his wedding and prioritise ‘Brand Beckham’ over the family, stating he finally found peace after stepping away.
Even before that jaw-dropping revelation, Victoria and David were pointedly not invited to the renewal of Brooklyn and Nicola’s wedding vows, which took place at her father’s estate in Westchester, New York, last summer. I remember clearly that this was around the same time Brooklyn instructed celebrity legal firm Schillings to write to his parents’ lawyers to warn them off contacting him unless it was through their solicitors.
Brooklyn also failed to congratulate his once beloved dad when he was presented with his longed for knighthood by King Charles on November 4 last year.
Furthermore, there have been no birthday wishes, nor any Mother’s or Father’s day messages.
Then, last month, I discovered David and Brooklyn had come tantalisingly close to coming face-to-face – twice – at the five star Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. The former England and Manchester United midfielder checked in on the Sunday night but left to film a crisp advert nearby early the following morning… only for Brooklyn to arrive for a day of sunbathing just hours later.
Brooklyn sadly left before his father returned to have dinner and stay the night. Neither party, I’m assured, had any idea the other would be there.
The famous couple with their children Cruz, Romeo and Harper Seven Beckham
Victoria is pictured with her parents, Anthony and Jackie Adams
Brooklyn’s once close relationship with his brothers Romeo and Cruz is also no longer. Cruz, now 21, is particularly upset. ‘He’d never had a cross word with Brooklyn,’ a friend of the family recently told me.
Then there’s his little sister Harper, 14, who is heartbroken, along with Brooklyn’s aunties, cousins and, of course, grandparents. ‘Brooklyn was always so close to his mum,’ says the friend. ‘He idolised his dad but he adored his mother.’
There has also been anger that Nicola would pose with Harper for Instagram posts, creating the inferred narrative that she was the little sister Nicola never had, before disappearing from her life.
The Beckhams despise the Peltz family, to whom Brooklyn has grown increasingly close since disowning his own. As well as thinking Nelson, 83, is ‘not a nice person’, they are also no fans of Nicola’s mother Claudia, 71, a former model.
In fact the fallout has prompted one of the most vicious briefing wars I have ever witnessed – one that, some months ago, didn’t show any sign of stopping.
All of which begs the question of just how David and Victoria, a couple who are so proud to be parents, have coped during the last 12 months?
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Neither David nor Victoria have spoken publicly about the rift and don’t intend to. But those who know the family well say that work has been a great healer for the couple.
In the aftermath of Brooklyn’s Instagram post, Victoria was up, in the gym, then in the car to her office where she would do a full day’s work. ‘Victoria shows up, simple as that,’ says a friend. ‘She always has done.’ As for David, his diary is jam-packed.
Both have reached a point of acceptance, too. ‘David and Victoria have accepted that Brooklyn doesn’t want a relationship with them right now, if ever,’ says the friend. ‘They are past the whole begging him to come back to them or wanting to go and get him. That’s the point they are at. Of course they would love to have a relationship with him and they will always be here for him. Sadly, it has become the norm.’
But overall it has been the rest of the family that has rallied together. ‘Brooklyn has loads of cousins, in particular Libby Adams – Victoria’s younger sister Louise’s daughter who at 27 is the same age as him – but he never sees her,’ says another pal. ‘She is upset but they have to keep going.
‘They are a very close family and they are all pulling together.’
Indeed, while Brooklyn insists he still has a relationship with his grandparents, just a few weeks ago I witnessed first-hand how the heartbreak is still hanging over the entire Beckham family.
We were backstage at a gig by Cruz and his band The Breakers. Crammed into the small underground venue in Hoxton, East London, were Victoria’s parents, Jackie and Tony Adams, and David’s mum Sandra and younger sister Joanne.
Of course, they were proud, excited to watch Cruz perform as the frontman. Only I couldn’t help but think what a torrid year it had been for all of them – especially the Beckham grandparents. Their world has been also turned upside down after Brooklyn cut contact from his parents.
‘They make the best of it,’ says my source. ‘But Brooklyn is missed. He loved a family occasion. He loved his family and he was always up for a big get-together. How proud he would once have been of Cruz for his singing career.
‘David and Victoria are so devastated for their parents, because what have Brooklyn’s grandparents done wrong? Nothing.’
I know full well that if Brooklyn had been in Hoxton that night, he would have been fussing over his grandparents. Nothing would have been too much.
Those familiar with the family say that the rift is ‘now in a place of calm’.
And that despite the fallout being vicious, both sides have retreated to their own corners for now. So while David and Victoria are no longer able to follow Brooklyn’s life on Instagram after he blocked them, they do still hope that their son is happy in his life.
As the Beckhams prepare once again for David’s birthday celebrations, to mark his 51st on May 2, the question many are asking is will there ever be a thawing between the warring camps?
Those close to the family have assured me that, right now, there is no chance of that happening. Some suggest that relations would return to normal should Brooklyn split from Nicola – but there is categorically no sign of that.
‘David and Victoria have no expectations,’ says a friend.
‘But one thing for sure is that if Brooklyn turned up at their doorstep, they would welcome him back with open arms.’
