Relations inside the famously tight-knit Beckham clan deteriorated so badly last summer that eldest son Brooklyn reportedly asked his parents, David and Victoria, to contact him only via their lawyers.
It can now be revealed that legal letters were exchanged — not as part of any lawsuit, but between the family’s respective legal teams at Schillings and Harbottle & Lewis — after Brooklyn said he no longer wished to receive direct contact or see public statements about himself on social media.
There was no legal action, and the letter carried no formal legal standing. It was, insiders stress, simply a request. But it came after Brooklyn felt there had been a series of “nasty” briefings about his wife, Nicola Peltz Beckham, including claims that he was a “hostage” being “controlled” by her.
Relations between the Beckhams broke down so completely last summer that at one point, eldest son Brooklyn asked his parents to contact him only via his lawyers
This week, friends and publicists on both sides declined to comment, still hoping tensions might cool and the rift could yet be healed.
One source said: “David was told to speak to them via Schillings. That was the only way they were allowed to communicate.”
The move may explain why Brooklyn is believed to have blocked his parents — and brothers Romeo and Cruz — on social media just before Christmas. The family had been liking his cooking posts, which insiders say went against Brooklyn’s wish that he and Nicola be left alone.
The situation has reportedly left everyone hurt. It is said that Gordon Ramsay has even tried to lift Victoria’s spirits, joking: “You’ve got one feud… I’ve got the whole Top Trumps deck.”
The celebrity chef is no stranger to family fall-outs, having previously clashed with his alcoholic father, his drug-addicted brother and his wife’s father Chris, while even his new son-in-law Adam Peaty is said to have fallen out with his parents ahead of marrying Ramsay’s daughter Holly.
But for the Beckhams, the wounds remain raw. A source told me before Christmas that Brooklyn and Nicola were upset by Instagram posts made by his parents and would wake up anxious about what might have been shared overnight.
“They just want peace,” the insider said. “It would be really in the holiday spirit if the Beckhams could leave them alone for now.”
At the heart of the feud are the briefings over the summer which Brooklyn and Nicola believe were orchestrated by his parents.
Brooklyn, 26, married actress Nicola, 30, in April 2022. News of tensions within the family emerged just two months later, after Nicola was reportedly offended when Victoria promised to design her wedding dress but ultimately did not.
Then, on the wedding day, family friend Marc Anthony described Victoria as the most beautiful woman in the room — a comment that insiders say further stung.
Although both sides attempted to repair the relationship, Brooklyn and Nicola were absent from David’s 50th birthday celebrations last summer. In November, Brooklyn also failed to publicly congratulate his father on being knighted.
Now, Team Brooklyn believes a genuine apology is needed to reset the relationship, while the senior Beckhams — still hurt by wedding leaks and what they see as sustained criticism of Victoria — would like to draw a line under the past.
Friends say they would do anything to make up with their son. For now, however, the family remains divided — with lawyers once standing between them.
