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\n Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Everett Collection\n <\/p>\n
There\u2019s drama in the British royal family \u2014 no, not that one, for once; I\u2019m talking about the Beckhams<\/a>. There had already been years of tabloid speculation that something was not right between Posh, Becks, and their eldest son, Brooklyn. But on Monday, Brooklyn released a lengthy statement via Instagram that accused parents Victoria and David of \u201ctrying endlessly\u201d to ruin his relationship with wife Nicola Peltz. He described his parents as ruthless, fake, and controlling and stated that he had no desire to ever reconcile with them.<\/p>\n A number of Brooklyn\u2019s claims related to the couple\u2019s glitzy 2022 wedding. Specifically, he alleged that his mother called him \u201cevil\u201d because she felt snubbed in the seating-chart placement and that she scrapped plans to make Nicola\u2019s wedding dress \u201cin the 11th hour.\u201d (This conflicted with claims in a Vogue<\/a> feature about the wedding at the time that said Peltz had worked with Valentino<\/a> for a year to design a custom dress.)<\/p>\n But perhaps the most sensational claim \u2014 and one<\/a> that sparked<\/a> a thousand<\/a> memes<\/a> \u2014 was that Victoria \u201chijacked\u201d the couple\u2019s first dance by having the singer Marc Anthony call Brooklyn to the dance floor before the newlywed dance. Victoria then \u201cdanced very inappropriately\u201d on her son, Brooklyn claimed, causing him to feel uncomfortable and humiliated. The entire wedding was such a disaster that Beckham said he and Peltz wanted to renew their vows in order to create new memories. (Victoria and David haven\u2019t commented on the allegations, beyond the former soccer star saying in a CNBC interview<\/a>, \u201cChildren are allowed to make mistakes; that\u2019s how they learn.\u201d)<\/p>\n Brooklyn\u2019s statement lit up group chats and sparked a global media frenzy. But for some people, they also hit very close to home. The Cut spoke with six people about how behavior from their own mothers or mothers-in-law tarnished what were supposed to be perfect wedding days. (Their names have been withheld to protect whatever ounce of privacy they still have post-wedding embarrassment.) We heard stories about rehearsal-dinner blowups, ruined bridesmaids\u2019 dresses, and, of course, inappropriately white gown choices.<\/p>\n The day before the wedding, my father-in-law calls me and he says, \u201cYour fianc\u00e9\u2019s mother is unhappy with the seating chart.\u201d She wanted her sister sitting with her \u2014 a sister I hadn\u2019t met and still haven\u2019t to this day. I told him I\u2019d already sent in the chart, and he asked if there were any way to change it. When I said no, he said, \u201cOkay, well, I\u2019m just letting you know\u201d \u2014 and these are his exact words \u2014 \u201cif you don\u2019t, there\u2019s going to be a fiasco tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n My mother-in-law is a narcissist. It was typical of her to try to have her husband do her dirty work. I\u2019d had enough. I told him, \u201cThat\u2019s fine. She doesn\u2019t have to come. I\u2019m not dealing with her.\u201d She had her wedding. This was mine. On the day of the wedding, she was obviously in a bad mood. I think she is used to people just taking it and putting up with her. I had the best time ever because I didn\u2019t pay attention to her.<\/p>\n After the wedding, though, people started sending me messages about her behavior that night. I had a co-worker come to my wedding, and she said, \u201cI could not believe the way she was looking at you guys. She was so upset that you guys were getting married.\u201d People were saying she was making snide comments all night. People were sending me photos of me and my husband dancing and she would be behind us, looking at us very angrily.<\/p>\n My mom is from Lebanon and told me later that when she tried to say hi to my mother-in-law, she was completely ignored. Like, she looked her in the eyes and walked away. I really do think it\u2019s racism. My aunt also said, \u201cYou could tell she did not want to be there. It was evident the whole night.\u201d<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t spoken with her in years. The way she behaved at my wedding, there\u2019s no way I could ever, ever forgive her.<\/p>\n In her wedding-reception speech, my mother brought up my awful high-school girlfriend before mentioning my new wife. She was trying to make a point that I had found a great partner who is light-years more polite and nicer than my high-school girlfriend, but she did a very poor, ad-libbed job of making her point. My wife still brings it up on occasion \u2014 not in an awful, spiteful way, but more of a \u201cRemember when your mom wasn\u2019t prepared for a simple important speech moment and put her foot in her mouth?!\u201d<\/p>\n My brother\u2019s wife is a nice girl from Europe. My mom really doesn\u2019t like her. She feels like she basically forced my brother to move overseas, so she holds that against her. They don\u2019t get along, but they\u2019re working through it. When it came to planning the wedding, at first my brother and sister-in-law said they were going to get married in the state where my mom lives. My mom was so excited and helped to tour locations there \u2014 one of which they put a deposit on. But then my sister-in-law changed her mind and wanted to start over planning the wedding for a different state that the bride has some tenuous connections to. It was a whole thing.<\/p>\n My brother was very clear that my mom could plan the rehearsal dinner, but that was basically the extent of the involvement that he wanted. My mom is a narcissist and drinks like a fish. At the rehearsal dinner, my mom got too drunk and emotional. When my sister-in-law\u2019s mother got up to give a speech, my mom stood up, pointed at her, and said, \u201cYou are not to speak!\u201d My mom didn\u2019t take kindly to her wanting to speak at what my mom considered to be \u201cher\u201d event. My mom had to be escorted out.<\/p>\n My brother had to have a serious conversation with her about behaving herself at the wedding or she wouldn\u2019t be allowed to come. It was a whole thing. He has never really forgiven her for that and still brings it up all the time. I\u2019m not sure how she behaved at the wedding itself because I chose to get blackout drunk.<\/p>\n My mother-in-law wore white to my wedding \u2026 with black fishnets. She looked terrible. The fishnets had a floral pattern through them. The dress was just a very plain, knee-length number. I said to my dad as we were walking down the aisle and we spotted her, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be fucking kidding me.\u201d His response was, \u201cJesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s definitely self-centered, but she doesn\u2019t crave the spotlight. She\u2019s just completely oblivious to how her actions or words may affect other people. My husband had no idea what she was going to wear, but he knew right away why it was an issue. I believe he said, \u201cWhat was she thinking?\u201d She wasn\u2019t thinking. She never does. All my friends said things to me, but I just told everyone to leave it. I just ignored her the whole day and night. I don\u2019t like confrontation.<\/p>\n My parents weren\u2019t crazy about my now-husband. My mother was especially angry that we had decided to settle in California because I\u2019m originally from New York. She and I had a lot of arguments when we started planning the wedding, escalating to the point where my now-husband and I canceled the big wedding we wanted and got married with just immediate family in my parents\u2019 living room.<\/p>\n We hired a rabbi to come perform the ceremony. When the rabbi arrived, we were sitting at the kitchen table signing the ketubah, or marriage contract, and the rabbi said she didn\u2019t want any flash photography during the actual ceremony as it would be extremely distracting. My husband-to-be and I agreed because it sounded like a good idea, but my mother hit the roof. She went nuts. She argued and had a tantrum and threatened to force the rabbi to leave the house. \u201cNo flash photos, no wedding!\u201d she said. I can\u2019t remember who finally told her to get it together, but my mom backed down and we did get married as planned. I\u2019m sure she was just looking for a reason to prevent the marriage and this felt like an opportunity, but she isn\u2019t the scheming type \u2014 just pure, raw emotion. We still got some (non-flash) photos of the ceremony, but the ironic thing is that I never want to look at them again. I won\u2019t because it\u2019s a reminder of how stressful that day was. My mom won\u2019t either because \u2026 no flash!<\/p>\n I had a very small wedding. We had planned for an elopement ceremony, so it was just us and 18 other guests. My mom and stepdad were going through a split around that time. My mom asked if she could invite her boyfriend, whom I\u2019d never met. I was just up-front and honest with her that nobody was getting a plus-one. It\u2019s a very strict amount of guests that we can bring, and I don\u2019t even know this guy. It seemed reasonable to me, but she was a little bit taken aback.<\/p>\n On the day of the wedding, I\u2019d asked her not to drink or smoke weed. I know how she gets. But as we\u2019re getting ready at the Airbnb, my mom asks if anybody wants to smoke a joint with her. Obviously, everybody said no, but she did anyway. So I was automatically on edge.<\/p>\n Things were going well at the wedding until the end. Mom started drinking during dinner. I guess she felt tense seeing my stepdad for the first time in a while. Later, when he was talking to my mother-in-law as things were wrapping up, he made my mother-in-law laugh at something he said. Then, from across the firepit, my mom mocked her laugh out loud in front of everybody. This made everybody feel very awkward. Right then, she \u201caccidentally\u201d spilled red wine all over my sister-in-law, who was one of my bridesmaids. Her dress was ruined.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t around when all of this happened, so one of my friends came up to me and said, \u201cDon\u2019t look now, but your mom is making a scene.\u201d I walked up to my mom and asked what was going on, and she just started screaming at me in front of everybody. I had to basically put her into a car and shut the door. My brother drove off with her. I haven\u2019t seen her since.<\/p>\n My husband and I are actually considering doing exactly what Beckham and Peltz say they did, where they had a ceremony to renew their vows, just the two of them, to kind of rewrite the memory of their wedding.<\/p>\n Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n