Inside the Beckham 'feud', as Brooklyn breaks 'no contact' to wish family member happy birthday

All is not well in Beckhamville. The Beckham family feud rumours have been ongoing for months now, spurred on by the notable absence of Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz-Beckham from recent family events.

Eyebrows were raised when Brooklyn Beckham failed to address a series of Beckham family milestones on social media, including David Beckham’s naming in the King’s birthday honours, Father’s Day, David’s birthday, Victoria’s birthday, and the couple’s 26th wedding anniversary. Then, on July 10, Brooklyn unfollowed his two brothers — Cruz and Romeo — on Instagram, confirming the feud.

It has been reported that Brooklyn has requested “no contact” with his family and has only publicly broken his silence twice, in the service of two birthdays: on July 10 for Harper Seven (the same day he unfollowed his brothers), and on Thursday, July 24, for his grandfather, David “Ted” Beckham, father of David Beckham. The photo, posted in celebration of Ted’s 77th birthday, shows Brooklyn and his grandfather at Ted’s wedding celebrations, where the entire Beckham family was in attendance, in 2021.

Plus, further proof that reconciliation may be possible: Brooklyn and Nicola were recently photographed having a long lunch with Brooklyn’s godfather, Elton John, while on holiday in St Tropez.

Elton John is a close friend of Victoria and David Beckham, and he has been in Brooklyn’s life for a long time. Brooklyn used to spend his childhood holidays at Elton John’s home in Nice, and the Tiny Dancer singer was present at Brooklyn and Romeo’s joint christening in 2004.

A source told The Sun: “Elton and David think the situation is terribly sad, and [Elton] has gently suggested to all involved that life is short — to patch things up.”

Brooklyn appears to have been impacted by the conversation, at least enough to use the Elton John song “Cold Heart” (featuring Dua Lipa) in his most recent Instagram story of Peltz.

And in a strange turn of events, the Beckham family (sans Brooklyn) are now reportedly holidaying on a yacht near the exact St Tropez port where Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz were just days beforehand.

It has been a war waged on Instagram. For the past few months, Brooklyn has almost exclusively posted about his wife, hot sauce brand, and in-laws. On July 2, Brooklyn posted a Happy Birthday message to his father-in-law — Nelson Peltz — after months of failing to mention his own family.

On June 8, he posted in celebration of Nicola’s brother Will Peltz’s engagement to Kenya Jones, adding further salt to the wound. On June 9, he posted yet another fawning tribute to his wife from aboard a Peltz family yacht, calling her a “sexy little mermaid”.

David Beckham seems to have extended several olive branches to Brooklyn, who has reportedly requested “no contact” with his family. Most recently, David liked an Instagram post of Brooklyn’s where he walked followers through a cooking tutorial for a recipe involving his hot sauce, Cloud 23. From what can be seen from David Beckham’s public social media profiles, Brooklyn has not reciprocated.

In addition to their continued avoidance of family events and silence during family milestones, several “cryptic” social media posts from other family members have been interpreted as digs at Brooklyn Beckham and his wife Nicola Peltz. In one instance, Cruz Beckham ruffled feathers with his response to a negative comment on TikTok. “Are you going to stick with this job or going to become a race car driver next or something?” a commenter asked.

“Wrong brother mate,” the youngest Beckham son responded, appearing to mock Brooklyn’s many attempted vocations (photographer, chef, hot sauce founder, etc).

Meanwhile, Nicola Peltz appeared to confirm the feud on June 24 when she liked a comment that lambasted claims she was “controlling” Brooklyn. “The fact people are in this comment section talking bs about someone controlling a GROWN man is absurd,” read the comment, which Nicola Peltz liked. “The guy is an adult and can make his own decisions, leave them be and stop blaming women for everything.”

As for Brooklyn Beckham? The eldest Beckham child appears to be doubling down on his request for “no contact” with his family with each passing day. The 26-year-old has reportedly spent £11m on a Los Angeles mansion to share with his wife, Nicola Peltz-Beckham, following a period of renting. The rest of the Beckhams primarily reside in Holland Park, in west London.

To make things even juicier, reports eventually emerged claiming that Nicola Peltz is actually the majority owner of the house, with The Sun claiming that the Peltzes find the Beckhams to be “tight” with money. For context, Nelson Peltz, Nicola’s father, has a net worth of $1.6 billion, more than double the £500m combined net worth of David and Victoria Beckham.

“David and Victoria are two working-class kids done good,” a source told The Sun. “They have grafted hard for their money and understand that with privilege comes responsibility. On principle, they will not needlessly spoil their kids and have taught them the value of both industry and money.”

The source continued: “Nelson Peltz, on the other hand, is a billionaire investor and he and his wife Claudia regard Nicola, their little girl, as the apple of their eye.

“Understandably, they want to indulge her and ensure she never struggles — they expected the ­Beckhams, worth half a billion ­themselves, might match them penny for penny. Or, at least, chip in with financials as and when.

It has been widely reported that the Beckham feud began around December, when Romeo Beckham started dating London-born DJ Kim Turnbull, who TMZ claimed was Brooklyn’s ex-girlfriend.

But it turns out it’s not quite that simple, as youngest Beckham brother, Cruz, clarified on Instagram that Brooklyn and Kim aren’t actually former partners. “Brooklyn and Kim never dated,” he explained in an Instagram comment in response to fans asking about the feud.

And now, Romeo has reportedly split from Kim, though it is said to be amicable. Turnbull had since shed some light on the situation, writing on her Instagram story: “I will not continue to receive harassment or be embarrassed on the basis of lies, to fit a certain narrative. I have never been romantically involved in ANY capacity at ANY point with the person in question.”

This comes amid claims that Turnbull was being used as a “scapegoat” to explain the alleged feud.

The feud rumours gained real traction after Brooklyn and Nicola failed to attend David Beckham’s early 50th birthday celebrations in April, when every other member of the core Beckham clan was present.

Then came Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz-Beckham’s third wedding anniversary on April 9. Fans noticed that none of the family chose to congratulate them on the milestone, sparking further suspicion.

On April 17, Victoria Beckham celebrated her 51st birthday in the company of her loving family — all apart from Brooklyn and Nicola. While the majority of the Beckham family were partying with Victoria on the family’s superyacht in Miami, Brooklyn and Nicola were busying living it up at Coachella.

Fans also noticed that neither Brooklyn or Nicola acknowledged Victoria’s birthday on social media, while the rest of the family did. David kicked off the birthday tributes for Victoria by sharing old photos of the Spice Girls star with their children, writing: “Happy Birthday Mummy. We all love you sooooo much,” adding, “Happy Birthday to the most amazing Wife, Mummy & Best Friend that we could all wish for. Have the most perfect day because you deserve to and we love you so much.”

Romeo followed, writing: “Happy Birthday to the most amazing mum, keep shining and making us all proud, love you lots.” Cruz, age 20, added: “Happy Birthday to the most inspirational mum, you have done everything for us.”

Meanwhile, a bit of potential beef between the Beckham brood was noticed in the Instagram comments section. In a post by Mia Regan, Romeo’s ex-girlfriend, Nicola Peltz commented saying: “So beautiful Mia,” with the sparkle and pink heart emoji. Then, days later, Cruz commented the exact same thing under his brother Romeo’s Instagram post, “So beautiful Romeo”, while Romeo responded with laughing emojis.

Brooklyn Beckham is said to have be snubbing his parents’ attempts to reconnect with him for a while now.

A source told the Daily Mail that around the time of David’s birthday “there has been no call, no contact, nothing,” from Brooklyn. “As parents David and Victoria are very concerned for their son and they have tried to get in touch but he isn’t interested.”

“David even tried through social media last Monday,” they added. “He fears that his son won’t know that him and Victoria love him so dearly otherwise. It is a terribly sad situation. They just want him to know that they are there for him when he’s ready to talk to them but he simply doesn’t seem interested in him at all.

“Nicola must behind this, she has been driving this wedge for some years now,” they concluded.

Victoria Beckham is said to be trying trying her best to quiet the feud rumours. On May 19 she shared a throwback picture of the entire family, Brooklyn included, with her father Tony in celebration of his birthday. “We both love you all so much,” the Instagram story assured.

According to The Sun, Victoria is the most keen to mend the relationship, with sources claiming that Harper Beckham’s 14th birthday celebrations may be the answer. However, another insider dashed dreams of a reunion, claiming: “It doesn’t seem likely at the moment.”

In a shock turn, the Mail also reported that Nicola and Brooklyn then sought advice from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The source told the Mail: “There was shared common ground [...] Nicola and Meghan also had a bit of a "deep n' meaningful" as obviously both women have been positioned in the media as homewreckers - the women to tear apart their husbands' families.

“Harry and Meghan were very empathetic and very kind to them both. Harry was fully aware of the situation and offered Brooklyn his unwavering support as someone who has been through similar.”

Amid all the drama, Nicola and Brooklyn have still been diligently posting on social media, with recent posts highlighting trips to Coachella, support for melanoma awareness month, and their attendance at an Airbnb launch party for Brooklyn Beckham’s collaboration with the hosting brand.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Romeo appears to be closer to his parents than ever. The former Brentford B team player is incredibly football-minded (though, ironically, an Arsenal fan, to the endless irritation of his Manchester United legend father), and Romeo and David are known to attend football games together. Earlier this year, Romeo, Harper, and Victoria supported David Beckham at an Inter Miami game. Beckham has been the co-owner of Inter Miami since 2014. Since quitting his own football career, Romeo has also pivoted towards fashion — a foray into his mother Victoria’s industry, cementing his closeness with her, too.

On the other hand, things between David, Victoria, Brooklyn and Nicola haven’t always been plain sailing. Rumours of a feud between the four started around 2022, when Brooklyn and Nicola were preparing for their wedding, leading to some alleged tension between the two couples over wedding planning arrangements.

The pair had appeared to mend their relationship in the years since, with Nicola attending Victoria’s fashion shows and the two women often posing for pictures together or posting about each other on social media.

That peace period now seems firmly over. The feud rumours were deepened furthest when Brooklyn and Nicola missed David’s official 50th birthday party in London.

All the signs pointed to the pair attending David’s 50th birthday bash, with the couple even skipping the Met Gala and flying over from the States so they could make the London party.

But then they were conspicuously absent, yet again, which TMZ claimed was due to Brooklyn asking for Kim Turnbull to be uninvited from the event. When the family declined, Brooklyn and Nicola flew back to the States. This means that Brooklyn also missed the boys’ family fishing trip, with David instead accompanied by just Romeo and Cruz.

On Instagram, David Beckham wrote: “You were missed @brooklynpeltzbeckham”.