{"id":420618,"date":"2026-01-21T10:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T10:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/420618\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T10:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T10:37:07","slug":"beckham-family-estrangement-is-neither-rare-nor-unique-say-therapists-brooklyn-beckham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/420618\/","title":{"rendered":"Beckham family estrangement is neither rare nor unique, say therapists | Brooklyn Beckham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Family therapists say they typically come across three reasons why parents and children become estranged: abuse, new partners, and irreconcilable differences over morals, values and beliefs.<\/p>\n

At least two of these were evident in the Beckhams\u2019 highly publicised family feud<\/a>, which culminated in Brooklyn Beckham\u2019s scathing Instagram post this week announcing his estrangement.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn said he did \u201cnot want to reconcile\u201d with his family, citing his parents\u2019 attempts \u201cendlessly to ruin my relationship\u201d and a desire to break free from their \u201cperformative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although the Beckhams live what Becca Bland, a psychotherapist and expert on family estrangement, described as \u201ca unicorn life\u201d with \u201cextraordinary features\u201d, estrangement is more common than many people realise \u2013 and often plays out in a similar way in other families.<\/p>\n

Research from Stand Alone, the charity founded by Bland, found that at least one in five UK families have experienced it. Figures from the US found that 10% of mothers were estranged from at least one adult child<\/a>, while another study found more than 40% of participants had experienced estrangement.<\/p>\n

A parent responding insensitively to a child\u2019s new partner was an \u201cincredibly common\u201d rupture, Bland said. This was compounded by Brooklyn feeling he \u201cdoesn\u2019t have the same values, he hasn\u2019t sought out fame, he\u2019s been given it without permission\u201d.<\/p>\n

The best way to heal a rift was through sensitive communication and empathy, rather than necessarily reaching for labels such as \u201cnarcissistic\u201d and \u201cabusive\u201d, she said. \u201cA lot of estranged parents are very well intended, but don\u2019t understand that [their intentions] didn\u2019t create the impact for their child to feel loved or supported or included. The child might feel controlled or highly criticised,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

However if one side continued to deny the other\u2019s perspective, then estrangement couuld be the healthiest option, she said.<\/p>\n

Lucy Blake, a psychology researcher at the University of West of England who has written a book on family estrangement<\/a>, said studies showed there was no \u201cnormal\u201d relationship between parents and their adult children.<\/p>\n

She said no two estrangements were the same, and could include no contact, low or limited contact, and movement between these over time.<\/p>\n

There have been concerns in the US that some therapists are too quick to recommend cutting off contact, but Blake said reputable registered therapists in the UK should offer \u201cnon\u2011directive therapy, where the goal is not to steer clients toward a particular decision\u201d.<\/p>\n

Her research suggested therapy was most helpful when estrangement was not presented as a \u201cone-size-fits-all experience\u201d.<\/p>\n

Whether it was helpful usually depended on whether the person had an alternative source of support, and if they needed protection from abusive dynamics and space to be themselves, she said.<\/p>\n

Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh, a family psychotherapist and honorary lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, said she had observed an increase in the number of patients showing awareness of therapeutic concepts, such as emotional abuse, narcissism and boundary-setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, with the clients I see it\u2019s really helpful to be able to name it, to recognise if a family member is gaslighting or projecting their trauma on to them,\u201d she said. However, she added, these labels could be unhelpful if used \u201cflippantly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Estrangement was \u201coften the last resort\u201d, she said, and should only be recommended in situations involving extreme behaviour, such as ongoing abuse, substance abuse or coercive control, \u201cwhere the other person has no insight into how their behaviour is affecting you and that person is being re-traumatised every time they go into the family situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Instead, setting boundaries about where you meet \u2013 a public place rather than a home \u2013 how much time is spent together, or the conversation topics that will not lead to conflict can be more helpful.<\/p>\n

The Beckhams\u2019 example echoed how many children pushed back against their parents in their late 20s, during the emerging adulthood stage, she said.<\/p>\n

She also saw lots of clients who had problems within family businesses. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a cult type way of being \u2026 people can feel very trapped in this situation, also because of the money involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Often there was a \u201ccycle breaker\u201d, such as Brooklyn or Prince Harry, who rebelled against the united front and keeping up of appearances. \u201cCommonly they\u2019ll choose a partner who doesn\u2019t align with the family belief system, and can support their breaking away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Debbie Keenan, a psychotherapist, said when she worked with a client contemplating estrangement, she asked them to consider the consequences, including the lack of support, the stigma and potential backlash from other family members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was incredibly brave of Brooklyn to speak out,\u201d she said. \u201cThat took a lot of courage. I think he\u2019s putting his partner first. There\u2019s three sides to that story, but there\u2019s conflict and a lot of resentment there.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said both sides would probably experience a grieving process and she suggested the Beckhams should \u201ctake time to reflect\u201d on what had caused the rupture \u2013 for example, some parents valued their child\u2019s success if it boosted their reputation or self-esteem \u2013 or face the risk that \u201cthe ripples of this will cascade down the generations\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Family therapists say they typically come across three reasons why parents and children become estranged: abuse, new partners,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-420618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}