Recently, someone accused me of placating the MAGA cult because I… defended Nicola Peltz. Yeah, I understand that Nicola’s billionaire father is some kind of major Trump supporter and donor, and that sucks. But I don’t think Nicola has ever expressed any interest in anything to do with Donald Trump, much less anything political in general. Nicola is too busy building her own (questionable) brand and helping her husband Brooklyn Beckham build his business. All of which to say, I’m sure Nicola is a superficial Mean Girl, but I also despise the way Nicola is being treated by the Beckhams and by the British media. There are two things happening concurrently: Nicola and her publicist are leaking to TMZ and People Magazine, all while David and Victoria Beckham are waging a really ghastly campaign against Brooklyn and Nicola. There’s been a deep vein of anti-Americanism in the Beckhams’ campaign, and it feels like David and Victoria are genuinely pissed that Brooklyn prioritizes his wife over them. Speaking of, the Daily Mail is already turning Nicola and Brooklyn into the next Harry & Meghan. From one of the Mail’s big Beckham exclusives:
It’s well known across the entire Beckham family that Brooklyn Beckham hates being filmed, and will only do it if he really has to. For example, for his cringeworthy cookery videos. Because, despite having watched his parents pose for the cameras on the world stage since the day he was born, their eldest son has always been rather reluctant to put himself in the limelight. But now a video has emerged of him riding a motorbike with wife Nicola Peltz, as part of a forthright post to show he is well and truly siding with her in the bitter feud that has ensnared the Beckham family. And those close to David and Victoria Beckham say they are pointing the finger at their daughter-in-law.
In the jaw-dropping Instagram post, Brooklyn wrote alongside a clip of him and Nicola speeding around Beverly Hills: ‘My whole world x I will love you forever x I always choose you baby x you’re the most amazing person I know xx me and you forever baby.’ It is the first time either of the couple, who snubbed all of former England captain David’s 50th birthday celebrations earlier this month, have publicly addressed the rift.
And it will have left David and Victoria both staggered and deeply concerned, as they fear that Brooklyn is falling increasingly under the control of Nicola, the daughter of American billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz.
‘Brooklyn is now being referred to as “the hostage”. He is in a situation where those who love Brooklyn fear that he is being controlled by Nicola and it is heartbreaking,’ said a source close to the fall-out. ‘Videos like this are just not what he does. He will be dying inside. He’s soppy and he’s a romantic but that video just isn’t him. He hates all of that stuff so you have to wonder if Nicola was behind it.’
As someone pointed out to me, it is particularly galling given Nicola had been briefing the media that the Beckhams are using social media for ‘performative’ reasons, when this post is perhaps the very epitome of such behaviour.
“Nicola had been briefing the media that the Beckhams are using social media for ‘performative’ reasons….” David and Victoria absolutely used their social media for performative reasons, to send a message to Brooklyn. Nicola and Brooklyn are doing the same, just as both sides of this conflict are speaking freely to their media contacts on both sides of the Atlantic. They’re all guilty of the same sh-t when it comes to briefings and social media. But the stuff happening within the beef is just unhinged – the stuff about Brooklyn is a “hostage” and the Beckhams being mad that Brooklyn will always choose his wife… like, are the Beckhams the in-laws from hell or what?
Here’s the IG which has apparently broken the Daily Mail’s brain.
Photos courtesy of Victoria’s IG, Brooklyn’s IG and Nicola’s IG.
I do not like Nicola but Victoria seems like a nightmare mother in law and typical boy mom. a wife should be first priority not the mother, Victoria has her own husband. she seems bitter since her own husband is a serial cheater and never put her first.
people mag posted an article and video (and deleted it quickly) of “Victoria Beckham Appears to Take First Dance with Son Brooklyn at His Wedding, Overstepping Bride Nicola Peltz in Leaked Video” this was already reported in 2022 but there was no video.
I really need to see that video.
Whatever the toxic dysfunctional family drama, I find it deeply tiresome that, as usual, the women in this scenario – Victoria & Nicola – are accused of causing the rift. You’d think that David & Brooklyn are two hapless children, unable to make adult decisions of their own, and just sat back while the mayhem materialized around them. Jeez…grow up boys! Own your own mess! Commentators, stop feeding the patriarchal narrative, ugh!
This has just gotten silly.
The marriage will work out, or it won’t.
And his parents are making any outcome harder for their son and his relationship with them.
Eyeroll. Are the elder Beckhams this hungry for attention? Starting to understand why the firstborn sees them with clear eyes now that he has distance and perspective. They’re ubercreepy. Ick.
They are deeply in love and Brooklyn is feeling his wife. The Beckhams are going to have problems if they make him choose. He’s going to choose her (especially if she gets pregnant). And at the risk of speaking to cultural issues, in America it’s not uncommon for the wife’s family to adopt the son in law, not the other way around. They need to let him go, and let him truly find what works for him. I wish he had stayed in college. He had the money to really find himself in the humanities ( I say this cus he doesn’t strike me as a STEM guy). Please don’t hate on me. 🙂
LOL, as a parent whose son recently got married, I feel this. His new in-laws have always made it a point to include him, which is wonderful, but even he has had to push back on them thinking he is kind of “theirs” now. I’m not a possessive mother by any means but I do think kids should maintain strong ties with their parents assuming all is well between them. There is room for all to play a role and to get along.
I’m curious as to how your son had to “push back”. Have a daughter going through similar…
When you are TRULY concerned that your child is in an abusive/toxic relationship, your focus becomes on remaining connected to that kid pretty much no matter what so that when they finally realize it themselves, they know they have people who love them and are ready to help. All the Beckhams are doing is “proving” everything his abuser tells him about his family being controlling and not caring about his best interests (if that is in fact the case). The Beckhams copying the “family unity” strategy of the BRF was not on my 2025 bingo card…
That’s fair. If they’re really worried, then they’d be seeking help as opposed to going to the tabloids and calling the son a hostage of his American wife. But it’s not like the kids aren’t briefing to tmz also. So messy all around. It just hits different when parents who have been legitimately harassed by the press in the past are now seemingly using it against their son. And leaning into xenophobia and misogyny to go hard on the wife as the controlling one and the son as the hapless victim. Which yeah, seems very similar to the BRF strategy.
I agree
We kept the slender line between ourselves & our son open
When his wife left for another man, we were there to pick up the pieces
She was married before with two little children
Our son took care of them all
Unfortunately when you divorce & are the step parent you have no standing for visitation
She’s now on her 3rd marriage
Not being able to stay in the children’s lives broke his heart
It can both be true that a) she’s awful and that b) attacking her publicly while your son is madly in love with her is a very bad idea.
It can also be true that the Beckhams are awful and that young married couples often pull away from the folks for awhile because they are trying to figure out their own lives.
I have no idea what the deal is, but I question storylines that pit woman against woman yet again.
The Beckham’s are coming across like stereotypical toxic in-laws. My own mother is not a good mother-in-law, especially to daughters in law. My dad turned a blind eye to her behavior and all of it (the not letting go of an adult child and blaming the wife for the son’s decisions) is very, very, very familiar to me.
You guys raised this boy, there is no excuse of absent father or dead mother, he is the product of your own making, the question is why do you want to stilfe your son’s growth, he will either fail or succeed on his own merit which by the looks of it he is trying to do, Stop Competing with your kids their reach is supposed to surpass their parents that is progress. If his marriage fails he will blame you and you may lose him.
As I said yesterday the two sides are letting and encouraging the media to make this a very big shit storm! They need to meet privately without press and talk like civilized adults. Will they do this? Probably not.
This all seems so pointless. What are David and Victoria hoping to achieve? Do they think this makes them look good? If they believe Brooklyn is a “hostage” how will this tabloid war help him? And to be totally cynical, do they think a H&M-type media war will help David’s chances at a knighthood?
@Eurydice, I ask these questions too. Are the Beckhams deliberately trying to emulate Charles’ dealings with H&M to ingratiate themselves and get David closer to his coveted knighthood? It’s all so cringeworthy.
This is unhinged. Brooklyn prefers to spend his time wife instead of his wider family. David and Victoria should just accept that. It makes me wonder if they were always against Brooklyn getting married and then the issue was compounded by Nicola choosing not to let Victoria design her wedding dress.
Honestly, looking back now, it might have been a good decision not to have the mom design the dress in this case.
So much misogyny, now wives are “bad” and hold husbands “hostages.” Very deranger talk.
The patriarchy flexing its muscles. Always the woman’s fault. 🙄
This has been common in fandoms and tabloid press for ages OneD Cumberbatch, I think there were RPattz, Hiddles variations too. the women are controlling narcs, the men are helpless victims. RR keep trying it with the Sussexes. It’s infantalizing to men and gross misogyny towards the women.
My theory is that the Beckhams have engineered this whole dynamic to further endear themselves to Charles/Bulliam in pursuit of the Knighthood. “See, we have so much in common.” Ingrate family member: check. Ambush by interfering American woman: check.
But, we have to take the Chuck/Will hypocrisy into account. Everything they do is OK because they’re royals, but this kind of messiness isn’t “in common.” It’s just common and not worthy of knighthood.
my theory is that one has nothing to do with the other, but equating what is going on and being able to pepper M&H into an article drives up the clicks.
The Fail writers see what garnered attention yesterday and rehash a new set of speculation for attention the next day.
Why do we have to know about this? Everyone involved is probably insufferable.
Having had a toxic MIL, I sympathize with the young couple. We set boundaries for good reason. And boundaries *work*.
I also had an extremely toxic MIL. She was mad that her “little boy” fell in love & got married. She made life VERY difficult for us, attacking me with words several times, enough to not speak to her for months. When we were going through a very rough patch 10 yrs into our marriage, she wanted to come visit. I said no, she came anyway & stayed in a hotel. That weekend she attacked me again emotionally and physically as well. That was it for me, my ex chose to defend his mother. Over 25 years later, he is living with his mother. So I have HUGE empathy for both Nicola & Brooklyn. The Beckhams sound toxic as all hell. I hope that this young couple can make a go of it and last.
He hates being filmed and photographed? That is why he tried to be an influencer with his cooking and why he tried for a model?
Tbh this was a cute video. Obviously staged because, well, drone footage, but also he’s holding her hand so cutely and bonus they promote rider safety by both wearing helmets. There is nothing jaw dropping or heartbreaking or staggering about two young marrieds in love. What is TRULY unhinged are the comments on that Instagram post of people telling them they should be ashamed, Nicola is poisonous, Victoria needs to rescue her son, etc.
The press is really trying to make this into a bigger thing than it merits. Those two aren’t that interesting and don’t do enough to merit all this handwringing headlines. The Beckhams aren’t that interesting either. David sucks up to the Crown and Victoria hasn’t moved her face in 20 years. Let them do their thing. This is stupid.
Exactly,
His Dad is a serial cheater, well known and humiliating his wife as it’s been all through the papers for years , and his affair partner on talk shows and reality shows every where for years,
It would have been constant in their home
AndVictoria , formerly one of the hugest pop stars in the UK, starving herself , literally accepting crumbs for herself and from her husband, butchering her face because the husband likes them young and tiny, while she shrinks herself
They put on a happy couple face, but their has to be anger and resentment on Victoria’s part leaking out
They did a lot of media to make brand Beckham the happy family while this is all going on
Kids are perceptive but other kids talk and tease
Poor Brooklyn, I’m sorry but the parents need to stop briefing and put their sons wellbeing first
I have a hard time believing that the Beckhams have anything to do with this story as they usually have their shit locked down pretty tightly. I could have written any one of these stories based on Instagram inference. In fact, if I was going to point a finger at who’s leaking these stories, it would be at the Beckham-Peltz household. They have more to gain from this storyline. I’m not saying it’s not happening, but I don’t think the elder Beckhams are doing the blabbing.
I’m with you. I suspect this is just the tabloids trying to stir up trouble with them having a little distance from each other.
If that’s the case, though, then no they don’t currently have it locked down. This is their son. Put out a statement saying they love and support their son and his wife. But doing that would put them at odds with the tabloids who want to keep egging this story on. But isn’t it worth it? For your kid. I get that people don’t want to put out statements and further fuel a story but a story can reach a point where it’s worth it to say something. Which is kind of where it’s currently at. There’s no reason to follow “the never complain never explain” royal mantra which is nothing more than a mantra. as we’ve seen. My take is that if the Beckhams aren’t directly planting these stories, they are sitting back. Bc they’re either good with the stories about the American woman taking their poor kid hostage or they’re afraid of making the tabloids mad at them by standing up to them. Their stuff is no longer locked down.
I honestly don’t believe the older Beckhams are doing or saying anything. Come on. They lock their stuff down. This is the tabloids trying to get a new story out there since the Meghan is holding Harry hostage stuff isn’t selling as well.
That said, they all sound a mess and need therapy.
Agree with this. None of it sounds like it’s coming from them. The only person who “benefits” from the “they think he’s a hostage talk” is Nicola because it makes the Beckhams look bad. Why would they release anything like that?
I genuinely don’t understand how you willingly choose to treat your own child like this. The Beckhams are literally bullying their son. Do they just think that Brooklyn will only be happy divorced and living in their house until he’s 60 ?
I actually think this is yet another attempt by the Beckhams at getting in close with the Royals. See? It’s happening to them “just like what happened to Harry!” I wonder just how close Victoria and Kate are. Does anyone know?
Haha, he truly hates being filmed … apart from all the filming he chose to do before he even met his wife. Look, this kid has been playing up his fame for some years, from his terrible book of photos to his laughable cooking videos and that weird thing where he put his name on a meal kit delivery service. That’s fine, that’s what these nepo kids do, so suddenly him making the kind of social media appearance that 80% of people his age would probably do is being held hostage? Nah.