Sir David Beckham has said “you have to let your children make mistakes” hours after his son, Brooklyn, issued a statement cutting off all ties with his “controlling” family.
Beckham, 50, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, gave an interview to CNBC in which he discussed the use of social media.
“I have always spoken about social media and the power of social media … for the good and for the bad,” he said.
Beckham said social media “can be dangerous” but that he tries to ensure he uses it for “the right reasons’, adding: “And I have tried to do the same with my children, to educate them. They make mistakes, but children are allowed to make mistakes. That is how they learn. That is what I try to teach my kids, you sometimes have to let them make those mistakes as well.”
Brooklyn, 26, is the eldest of the Beckhams’ four children. In an 821-word statement published on Instagram on Monday night, he said he did not want to reconcile with his family. He accused his mother and father of “controlling” the media narrative and said that he was “standing up for himself for the first time in my life”.
None of the Beckhams has directly addressed Brooklyn’s statement since it was published, and David dodged questions from reporters at Davos on Tuesday. He walked away when asked by a reporter: “David, do you have a message for Brooklyn this morning?”
However, Sir Keir Starmer did weigh in on the family feud, despite much of his attention being on rising international tensions over Greenland. His spokesman said: “The prime minister’s obviously addressing a number of different issues at the moment, but I think the prime minister’s always been clear that diplomacy is very important.”
Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz
Meanwhile, doubts have been cast over Brooklyn’s account of his £3 million 2022 wedding to Nicola Peltz, an American billionaire heiress and actress.
Brooklyn said his mother pulled out of making Peltz’s dress at the “11th hour despite how excited she was to wear her design”. However, at the time Peltz’s stylist said that it had taken a year to design the Valentino dress she ended up wearing, suggesting it was not a last-minute process.
Brooklyn said that he had “never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life” than when his mother “danced very inappropriately on me” during his first dance.
It remains unclear exactly what moves Victoria pulled out on the stage, but one guest at the wedding told The Times that “Brooklyn’s description is not how I remember it”.
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The couple enforced a strict no-phones policy at their wedding, so it is unlikely that video footage of the moment will emerge.
Describing the scene, Brooklyn said: “My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife, which had been planned weeks in advance, to a romantic love song.”
The song in question was reportedly I Need to Know by Marc Anthony, an American salsa artist and close friend of David Beckham. Anthony is also reported to have invited Victoria up to the stage — describing her as “the most beautiful woman in the room tonight”, which did not go down well with the bride.
However, guest accounts suggest that, by this point in proceedings, the bride and groom had already held their formal first dance to Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love in front of their 500 guests.
A report in Vogue in 2022 by Derek Blasberg — who attended the wedding — described the moment of the mother-son dance, but said it was Brooklyn who invited his mother on stage.
“At 11pm, the circular stage revolved 180 degrees, and Marc Anthony magically appeared for a live set that opened with I Need To Know,” Blasberg said. “Brooklyn invited his mother on stage for a dance ,and they were joined by David and their 10-year-old daughter, Harper.”
Victoria Beckham on the day of her son Brooklyn’s wedding
In his statement, Brooklyn said the idea Peltz “controls” him was “completely backwards”, and concluded: “I grew up with overwhelming anxiety. For the first time in my life, since stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared.
“I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose, and have found peace and relief. My wife and I do not want a life shaped by image, press, or manipulation. All we want is peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family.”
Brooklyn has also alleged that his family put “Brand Beckham” above everything else. He claimed that before his wedding, his parents “repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name” so that they could sign a deal.
“They were adamant on me signing before my wedding date because then the terms of the deal would be initiated. My holdout affected the payday, and they have never treated me the same since.”
Since 2016, Victoria Beckham has held the trademark for all four of her children’s names, and the family have deals which allow brands to use the Beckham name for commercial purposes.
The trademark on Brooklyn Beckham’s name is due to expire later this year, and experts said this means he could create a “Beckham-Peltz brand” which would pose a threat to the Beckhams.
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Mark Borkowski, the PR guru, told The Times: “There could be an issue over the trademark to Brooklyn’s name as it is set to expire later this year or early next. Brooklyn was asked to sign to protect his rights because David and Victoria have commercial partners who have some rights over the Beckham name.
“But Brooklyn has other ideas. People don’t realise just how rich and powerful the Peltz family is in New York. So they will be sitting down with their lawyers and trying to create a Beckham-Peltz brand, which starts to erode the Beckham dynasty. It’s an existential threat for the countless branding deals the Beckhams have because if there is another powerful Beckham brand out there then it can erode the power of yours.”
Brand Beckham was estimated to be worth £500 million, according to last year’s Sunday Times Rich list, up from £455 million in 2024. Sir David has moved on from simply being the face of brands such as Adidas, Pepsi and Stella Artois, to becoming a businessman with an incredibly broad portfolio of projects.