The Beckham family fracture has been in the gossip spotlight for months now, ever since Brooklyn married Nicola Peltz, who wore Valentino and not Victoria at the wedding, and they’ve all been frosty with each other over social media and didn’t even spend any time on holiday together over the summer.
But this weekend it was Victoria’s first presentation at Paris Fashion Week, obviously a huge deal for her. And Brooklyn and Nicola attended what seemed like every single show – and everything would have escalated even more if Brooklyn and Nicola were seen at Balmain and Balenciaga and Valentino but not come to support his mother.
So Team Beckham was in full formation for Victoria and Victoria posted a family portrait, sending love to everyone, and even included a shot of Brooklyn and Nicole on their own in the carousel:
Everything’s fine then, right? Nothing to see here?
The UK tabloids are never happy when the Beckhams are fine so they’re still trying to extend the story, twisting the reconciliation into something more salacious, implying that Brooklyn had to be ordered by David to show up for Victoria. But I’m not sure I buy that David would have to twist Brooklyn’s arm. This alleged feud wasn’t a good look for anyone in this situation. It wasn’t a good look for David and Victoria to be portrayed as petty and ungracious in-laws and it’s not a good look for Brooklyn and Nicola in these times of nepo baby mockery. He’s the first child of British celebrity royalty; she’s the daughter of a billionaire. No one was out here sympathising with any of these people. Putting on a united front was a smart move.
But how real is it behind the scenes? We’ll never know, really. Although it’s also possible that while it’s not super cozy and fuzzy behind the scenes, it’s not as bad, or as salacious, as the Daily Mail would hope.
The Beckhams are a tight family unit. For years and years, the better part of Brooklyn’s life, it’s been a team effort. Is that realistically sustainable when you’re building a relationship with someone else? Sure, you might luck out and fall in love with someone who wants to be part of the group chat and is the first to reply and is 100% all in on spending every holiday with the family but it’s also not unusual for someone to wants someone who is their own person, independent of their parents and their siblings. Not every family is built like the Kardashians.
Brooklyn is already having a hard enough time kickstarting his own career(s) – and in some ways his own identity – so if he’s trying to come into this marriage as his own person, loved for being his own person, he might have to create some distance between himself and the Beckham universe. And that takes some figuring out. Finding that balance probably doesn’t happen immediately. Where the parents are concerned, letting go probably doesn’t happen immediately either. All of this is playing out in the most public of ways too. Like I said, this isn’t the sexiest gossip storyline…but it’s also not a fantastical one. And it could be an increasingly common as more and more celebrity children who’ve been introduced to the culture on social media come into their own.
