What's going on with the Beckhams?

What’s going on with the Beckhams?

There’s no doubt Britain’s most famous family is the Royals - but in terms of headlines and column space, the Beckhams give the Windsors a run for their money… A family feud between David and Victoria Beckham and their eldest son Brooklyn was made public in January - and the clan has been back in the news due to a controversial World Cup ad and an attempt at a reunion… So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll get you across:

• brand Beckham

• how the feud began

• and where things are at…

🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Larissa Huntington and Sophie Felice

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Squiz the Shortcut

Give me a quick 101 on the Beckhams…
They’re seen as the UK’s alternative Royals - and they’re especially loved by the British people because they’ve built an empire from the ground up. Over the years, they’ve carefully crafted a brand, and part of that is an image of a wholesome, very close-knit family. 

When did their story begin?
Get your little black dresses ready - we’re turning the clock back to 1997… That’s the year when a very famous Spice Girl in a little black dress called Victoria Adams - or Posh Spice to most of the world - started dating an equally famous Manchester United football player called David Beckham. These 2 were the original power couple…

Tell me more…
They were both superstars in their own right, and together, they were a dream couple for the paparazzi. Photos of them on magazine covers sold hundreds of millions of copies. And then, the next year in 1998, their popularity grew even bigger when they got engaged. It’s kind of the equivalent of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding today - so, huge news… 

What do people remember about it?
Before they got married, their first son Brooklyn was born in March of 1999, so he was 4-months old at the wedding. And one thing loads of people remember is the matching purple outfits they wore at the reception (baby Brooklyn had one too…) and the thrones they sat on.

So Brooklyn was photographed with them?
Yep… The pictures from the wedding went all over the world. From a very young age, Brooklyn, and later, their 3 other children, Romeo, Cruz and Harper, were all very much part of their brand as a family. Victoria and David were so aware of the value of their children’s names, that they trademarked each of them in the European Union in 2016.

Why did they do that?
The family hasn’t commented on the reason for it, but some reports have quoted ‘sources’ close to them who say it was a business move to safeguard their names from anyone else registering them and to give them business opportunities in the future… 

Have they taken advantage of it?
Brooklyn has undoubtedly benefited from his family’s name over the years - he had his dad at his side when he published a book of photography called What I See in 2017. And he’s also traded off his name in his endeavours as a TV chef. Some might say he mightn’t have cut it otherwise, given his efforts in both ‘careers’ have been critically panned… But Brooklyn’s since said that his parents used him and his name as “a commodity” and it’s one of the issues that’s led to the rift between them. 

How did the feud start?
Things began to go sour when Brooklyn’s now wife, model and actress Nicola Peltz, entered the picture… She’s the daughter of American billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz, and she and Brooklyn got married in 2022. But in the lead-up, there was a bit of drama over the dress…

Go on…
By this time, Victoria Beckham was a big name, high-end fashion designer, so it was kind of expected that she’d make the wedding dress. But Nicola wore a Valentino gown instead. There was some confusion because the couple later said Victoria cancelled making Nicola’s dress at the last minute, leaving her scrambling for options. But an article in Vogue, published the day after the wedding, said Valentino had been working on the design for a year. Of course, we’re not privy to what happened behind the scenes, but the optics pointed to it being a huge snub by Nicola of her MIL.

What happened after that?
After the wedding, Brooklyn added Peltz to his surname, and despite the release of the Netflix documentaries on David and then Victoria which presented a picture of the family as tight-knit, it wasn’t long before rumours began circulating of a rift between him and the rest of the clan.

What were the signs?
Eagle-eyed people on social media noticed that Brooklyn wasn’t following his parents or siblings on social media anymore and then, when he didn’t turn up to his father’s very public and fancy 50th birthday party, nor to see him be knighted last year (which was a huge deal for David…) it was almost certainly confirmed. And then in January, Brooklyn went nuclear with a 6-page Instagram story… 

What did he write?
He confirmed the feud and listed his grievances against his parents in detail. We’ll get into what they were in a moment, but for some extra context, Brooklyn’s fight with his family has been widely compared to Megxit - the term the British press coined to describe Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to step away from Royal duties and lead a private life. They’ve come up with one for Brooklyn too: Beckxit. But he isn’t a fan… 

What has he said about it?
Commentators say the comparison to Harry and Meghan, and the speculation in the press that Brooklyn was somehow being manipulated by his American wife to split with his family has really irked him. They say that when he took to Instagram, he was drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘this is my life and I make my own decisions’…

OK, hit me… What was in the post?
He said he doesn’t want to reconcile with his family, that he wasn’t being controlled and that he was standing up for himself for the first time in his life… He said the images presented of the family on social media and in their Netflix documentaries by his parents were “performative” and “inauthentic” and he accused them of trying to “ruin” his relationship with Nicola. 

What else?
He also said his parents tried to “pressure” him into signing away the rights to his name before his wedding day - and just on the wedding day, one part of the post that got a lot of attention was his claim that Victoria hijacked his first dance with Nicola and that his mother “danced very inappropriately” on him. 

Has that been verified?
As no mobile phones were allowed in, there’s no footage of the dance… But Brooklyn said he’d “never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated” in his life… He also said that the family valued public promotion above all else and that “brand Beckham comes first”. 

Anything else?
He finished by saying “my wife and I do not want a life shaped by image, press or manipulation” and all they want is “peace, privacy and happiness”... But here’s the thing - quite a lot of people have noticed that he's still very much using his face, name and brand to promote things… 

How so?
He has his Cloud23 brand of hot sauce, for one - and the 23 refers to his father’s jersey number during his time playing for Real Madrid and LA Galaxy, so that’s a big family tie there. But it’s his US$1 million World Cup social media commercial that’s really raised some eyebrows… 

Why is that?
Critics of the ad say it seems like Brooklyn is deliberately profiting off the feud with his family and taking a swipe at them by signalling he’d rather stay at home and get food delivered than go to a match where they might be… The ad is for a DoorDash ticket giveaway, and in it, he says: “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the FIFA World Cup at home” then adds “It’s a long story” and throws the tickets onto a table next to a watch given to him by his dad and a stack of unopened letters… Then in a follow up, he’s seen to be giving away the tickets to a DoorDash driver telling him “these can go to someone else”…

How has it gone down?
Not well… He’s copped a lot of flak in the press and on social media for continuing to trade off his name while throwing shade on his family. But despite all of that, it seems like his father recently extended an olive branch. It was Father’s Day just over a week ago in the UK, and David posted a carousel including several photos of Brooklyn, with the caption: “being a dad is my most important job”. 

Did Brooklyn respond?
Not publicly, so it looks like the rift between the once tight-knit family is continuing for the time being… One thing to note is that the trademark period for Brooklyn’s name expires in December. As the rights currently belong to his mother, if he wants to stop her from renewing it, he’ll have to take legal action. And that could mean the next chapter of the saga plays out in the courts… 

Onto our Recommendations

Reading: Here’s the text of the instagram story posted by Brooklyn Beckham if you want to read it in full

Watching: We can’t go past David’s and Victoria’s documentaries on Netflix - for the Islands in the Stream dancing scene alone…

Reading: This column by The Guardian’s Marina Hyde on the fallout from the DoorDash ad. It’s a funny but nuanced take on the whole feud and what’s feeding it… 

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