Brooklyn Beckham, 26, has finally addressed his estrangement with his parents, David and Victoria. On Monday night, the eldest son of the Beckhams posted a whopping six-page bombshell statement to Instagram, saying he doesn’t want to make up with his famous family. He made it clear that he is not being controlled by his wife Nicola Peltz, 31, but instead claimed he has “been controlled by [his] parents for most of [his] life” and now wants to stand up for himself for the “first time” in his life,
Good for Brooklyn. I recently divorced my own family and I’ve never felt better. While many people feel sorry for Brooklyn, fearing that his outburst will only further isolate him from a loving family unit (a fantasy that rarely exists) and that he may regret his actions, I couldn’t be happier for him.
I know first-hand what it’s like to be stuck in a toxic family dynamic. I put up with my family all my life, until my dad died in 2024 and I finally decided to step away from them. Now, as a mother myself, it is a total relief to be free of the stifling family dysfunction.
But if somebody had suggested I would one day be estranged from my large family of five half-siblings, I’d have been broken-hearted. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. I am liberated. And no, I don’t want to be dragged into family therapy to fix it all. It’s going to take much more than that: a hell of a lot of space.
It’s why I have so much understanding for Brooklyn – even if I didn’t grow up in a mad celebrity household like him. In his post, he described being bombarded by fake news, with his parents “controlling the narratives in the press” about the family for his “entire life”.
Brooklyn also claims his parents have been “trying endlessly” to ruin his relationship since before his wedding, and alleged that Victoria cancelled making his wife Nicola’s wedding dress at the “eleventh hour”, forcing her to get another Valentino gown.
“The night before our wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was ‘not blood’ and ‘not family’”, he claimed on Instagram. “And “Brand Beckham comes first”. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into.”
His family issues are obviously a lot more public than mine – we didn’t have a family ‘brand’ – and it’s unfortunate he’s had to spill the beans on such intricate details in public rather than just run off free into the sunset as I have. But like me, Brooklyn is clearly sick to death of his family dynamics. Sometimes, we all need a break and to cut the ties – it’s the only way to get sanity and peace back.
Brooklyn wrote that he grew up with “overwhelming anxiety” and it’s now “since stepping away from [his] family, that anxiety has disappeared.” I feel exactly the same way.
I drank Night Nurse as a child to deal with my anxiety and as an adult, I ended up in A&E after a family argument thinking I was having a heart attack. I was relieved to hear it was only a panic attack – but it shows just how bad things were.
“I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose, and have found peace and relief,” said Brooklyn. I believe him wholeheartedly. When a family is deeply enmeshed, it all unravels at some point. To me, that’s why Brooklyn is having a no-holds-barred splurge in public.
Of course, some people will think his unfiltered rant shows a lack of PR or crisis management support. But Brooklyn didn’t need help; he is wearing his heart on his sleeve and being true to himself. For some people, the only way to have a successful marriage – and a peaceful life – is to cut their family out.
Clearly, pretending he has a “perfect family” has run its course for Brooklyn, who suggests it was all faked for the cameras. But it’s never as simple as that.
The hardest part for me was growing up under the illusion that we were the perfect family. We always had to be jolly and happy; it was just what was expected of us.
I was the ‘golden child’ and the youngest. The impact of this later in my life was huge: my “favoured position” was irritating to my siblings, which didn’t help relations. Nor did my dad’s divide and rule philosophy. It meant I spent my life seeking his approval, all so I could live up to the expectation of being the perfect child.
True feelings, and ‘ugly’ feelings like anger, were swept under the carpet and never spoken of. As a result, growing up, we each self-medicated in our own way, whether it was work, food, alcohol, or prescription drugs. For me, it was alcohol. I ended up in rehab aged 24 – having to look at the “family illness” as it is referred to in addiction.
Brooklyn has had his own fair share of addiction with Victoria’s eating disorder. My family dysfunction ended with me grieving the death of my half-siblings, as well as my dad, even though my siblings were well and truly alive and only around the corner – or up the motorway.
But since I cut my half-siblings out of my life, I’m finally free of all the projection, sibling rivalry, resentment, sarcasm, and belittlement that are nobody’s fault, really, but just a byproduct of a blended family that went terribly wrong.
Now I can get on with my life free of tension and toxic dynamics. And as much as I love my family in many ways, and it’s all been very painful, my life is so much better without the explosive text messages and finger-pointing.
Like the Beckhams, my family portrayal of a very close-knit clan was not the whole truth. It’s easy for outsiders to be charmed by the lovely photos and enjoy the fun get togethers at Sunday lunches, but it wasn’t real.
Sorry Brand Beckham, it’s not all a bed of roses. And that’s okay. All families have skeletons in the cupboards. It’s better to accept them rather than sweep all the mess under the carpet.
It’s not something to feel sorry about for Brooklyn; it just means his healing can start.
