Beckham feud: Marina Hyde on why Brooklyn has gone nuclear – The Latest

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:11It's very, very sad and I feel they love their children, but they haven't half gone about it in a funny way sometimes. David and Victoria Beckham's eldest son has launched a blistering spray at his parents, accusing them of trying to control his image, finances and marriage. He also said he's got absolutely no wish to reconcile. Brown Beckham is a family brand. It became a very, very big deal that they were, you know, all the children were always there at every event. There's been such a blurring of the lines that in many ways we don't even notice it anymore, which is probably why Brooklyn thinks I want to live privately when he's living out loud himself.

0:46The feud between the Beckhams and their son Brooklyn has gone nuclear, with Brooklyn taking to Instagram to share his side of the story. from the Guardians today in Focus. This is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoth.

1:04Joining me is Marina Hyde, Guardian columnist. It's a pleasure to have you, Marina. Thank you for having me. Very significant news day that seems to have cut through the geopolitical noise and tensions that we've all been focused on. But this really taking up space. So this is the first time that we've heard from Brooklyn Beckham since in this long-running feud, isn't it? And last night he posted... And we've heard on the record, isn't it? On the record, not from unnamed sources. Six Instagram stories written on his iPhone notes with a black background, six slides. How did you feel receiving that Instagram notification?

1:37Well, I mean, you know, of course, it's always nice not to be talking about World War Three, although this may be some form of proxy conflict for what's happening. But it's a really sad story. I think it's a really sad story. I think family no contact, this era of no contact, these family splits, I think it's dreadful. I feel it's very, very sad and I feel they love their children, but they haven't half gone about it in a funny way sometimes. All of these stories, I think it's interesting, almost every single thing that is in that post has been briefed to the newspapers by somebody. It's clearly not Victoria and David.

2:13So although I think that Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola Peltz, clearly do regard themselves as having been the victim of terrible briefings, they have not been silent themselves in that department because every single thing that was in there is something that we have already seen attached over the past 13 months, maybe longer, because it goes right back to their wedding in 2022. All of those stories have been out there. I mean, there is more detail and it is from the horses. So let's look in forensic detail. I mean, my reaction was deep, deep shock. My friend texted me to say she had such bad heartburn on reading Brooklyn's stories that she had to take a Rennie's.

2:50But let's look into the detail, because the thing that's really stuck with me is the idea that Mark Antony, who was married to Jennifer Lopez for 10 years until 2014, summoned Brooklyn to the stage. He says at the time where he and Nicola were supposed to be having their first dance as a couple, and instead he was met by Victoria. Victoria then dancing to, quote, Brooklyn, inappropriately. I'm thrilled for Mark Antony that somebody said that former celebrity's name out loud for the first time in forever. He's now thinking, Mark Antony, oh my God, am I in this? He does seem to have mishandled the, was he the MC of events?

3:27It's unclear, isn't it? A lot of this stems, you have to remember that all their lives, the Beckhams will have thought that it would have been their son's bride signing the prenuptial. And in the end, it was the other way around. And, you know, her father is Nelson Peltz, a kind of Mar-a-Lago frequenting activist investor, you know, a billionaire. And they don't need any of the Beckhams, anything really at all. And clearly there was a sense that maybe the Beckhams have tried to run this wedding. I don't know. It's not really clear, is it? There's just a sense of like perma grievance. The wedding does seem to have been this flashpoint in this conflict.

4:07Stories are a nightmare, aren't they? I mean, most people who've got married have probably got some stories around their family that you don't expect these things are going to happen and they do. It is better if you can recognise them as part of sort of wedding derangement syndrome and move on. And crucially, probably not asking your future mother-in-law to design your dress. But I'm finding this quite confusing because Nicola Peltz wore Valentino on her wedding day. According to Brooklyn's account, Victoria Beckham was going to make Nicola's dress, but she pulled out on the 11th hour to quote Brooklyn.

4:37Yes. I mean, it's all in there. I mean, I can't really be asked for any of the dress on any of that aspect of the story. I don't really care. I think it's sort of stunning that these people that we elevated in place, you know, when you seeing their place in celebrity culture, the Beckhams, they were the actual crest of that wave of celebrity turning into something very, very different. It happened in the late 90s and then it explodes, particularly in the noughties. And they became a sort of, people said, oh, you know, they're our alternative king and queen and they had thrones at their wedding and all of those things.

5:08And it's so interesting that the House of Beckham story has started to track slightly with the sort of House of Windsor story. I don't know if you, these kind of weird royal families and whether you can escape this torment if you live out loud in this very odd way. I mean, I think that the way they have lived and commodified their family is odd. And to some extent, we forget this because in a way, everybody has commodified themselves. And in a way, they've done it in the slipstream of huge celebrities like the Beckhams who kind of sold their lives and put it all out loud. I think they epitomize something that is not a million miles from the way other people have lived their lives much further down the influenced kind of chain.

5:49Yeah, and Brooklyn of the four kids seems to have been the most impacted by that in a way. I mean, his birth was such an extraordinarily big cultural moment, wasn't it? And he has talked about this controlling narrative in the press, in our family, the performative social media posts, family in authentic relationships. I mean, how does that square with this type of public statement on his own Instagram as he shares very regularly? Well, look, you know, bless him. I don't think he's the brightest and I mean no shade, but he isn't. And it's quite difficult if you've been raised entirely in that way of living to even imagine a way of not doing that.

6:27I think he says, you know, all I want is privacy. But he is someone who posts regular videos. His life, to some extent, is commodified. He is a sort of brand ambassador for all sorts of things. It's obviously different when your entire business is run through its pipes. and the family business is very odd. There is clearly, you know, Brown Beckham is a family brand. Two became six and it became a very, very big deal that they were, you know, all the children were always there at every event. He says this in his statement. They were there at every premiere, every, you know, first day of the season for Into Miami, every, when someone lifts up.

7:03Every fashion show. Every fashion show, every everything. They are always there and there is clearly, well, you would think there is, because I know how hard it is to get, most people know how hard it is to get their children to do anything. There is clearly a sort of culture of presenteeism within the family. And there is a sort of odd way of having to live your life. But it is the extreme version of what happens when you sublimate all of your family dynamics through the tech lords machines. Why? And sanitise over reports of multiple infidelities, for example. I mean, I do just want to... Well, that's it, isn't it?

7:41The documentaries. Yeah. Both the documentaries are very odd. Small mention of Rebecca Luz, but kind of brushed under the carpet a little bit. Well, and with some fake newspaper headlines, so they didn't have to have the real ones. You know, that documentary won Emmys, and it was made by Fisher Stevens, who is a very good documentary maker, and somehow, but has now agreed to make a documentary commissioned by its own subject, on which its own subject serves as an executive producer. The same thing happened with Victoria's documentary. And a lot of Netflix's content is not documentaries in the way that the great artists of that form in any way would recognise it.

8:18We live in an age where almost everything, including people's lives, are a form of advertorial. And there's been such a blurring of the lines that in many ways we don't even notice it anymore, which is probably why Brooklyn thinks I want to live privately when he's living out loud himself. Yeah, and so this was addressed in his statement as well. He said that, you know, basically he'd been living this life of public service, as you say, turning up to every football game, every premiere, every fashion, exactly, family service. But in response, when Nicola had asked Victoria Beckham to take in some displaced dogs in the LA wildfires, Victoria refused.

8:54I mean, that felt like quite a low blow. The displaced dogs, again, I mean, it's a detail of the story I love, which I can't take entirely seriously. The only thing she's ever asked her is for assistance with displaced dogs. Well, that I can imagine. I don't know what she was looking for. Probably not a house or maybe. I don't know. With the empty mansions of Beverly Hills being commandeered by Nicola in a sort of outreach effort to house all the dogs, it's unclear. It's unclear. Because there were many displaced humans as well. Well, exactly. No mention of them in Brooklyn's speech. So where do we go from here?

9:27I mean, I feel a great deal of sympathy, I think, for Brooklyn through this, not least because he just sounds like quite a lost man. I mean, Nicola often gets a lot of the blame for this. There's talk of her being in a sort of controlling relationship. But, you know, he has never found his way, has he? He's a poor photographer of elephants. He's a cook. He's an actor slash model. His younger brothers just seem slightly more well adjusted. Well, it's difficult in a way. they have all been pushed into kind of front facing careers and their daughter who's I saw something that she'd put on you know they put on Instagram saying I want to build my own brand and she must have been 13 at the time and you just think is this the way to happiness but the difficulty is I don't know they met very young obviously they had completely atypical careers from anyone in the normal population and when you've lived in that very public facing way for such a long time maybe it just seems impossible to imagine you know careers jobs away from the public eye and maybe she thinks well you know academics is never going to be their thing in the case of her boys certainly and they're going to do something different but the things that they were encouraged into are all very sort of high profile oh you're going to have a football career or you're going to be a photographer or you're you know you're going to be a musician you're going to All of these things are very, very difficult to succeed in.

10:49And perhaps it would have been better to put them or to encourage them into things that it would have been easier to succeed in. But listen, it's not for me to say. Many parents will be thinking they clearly absolutely love their children. And they've done everything they can for them. And they've done their best, which is what most people do. And I'm not trying to sort of criticize it in a really ununderstanding way. but I do think as I say that this Faustian bargain with your living your life in public sometimes the devil collects on the deal I think it's it's always better to avoid it if you can.

11:23Finally moving on from here and we understand that David and Victoria have been trying to get in touch with Brooklyn for some time now but he's barred them from doing so and is referring them to his lawyers and that is the only means of communication at the moment there was some talk about that his brothers had unfollowed him his brothers say they were blocked by Brooklyn. We haven't had any response from the Beckhams yet, but what kind of advice do you think they'll be receiving about how to respond to this, if at all? I mean, you know, I saw him this morning. I was thinking, I wonder where he is.

11:52And, oh, there he is. He's in Davos. Of course he is. Of course David Beckham is in Davos. You see, lots of things are wrong with the world, and that's just a tiny little symbol of one of them. So he's in Davos, but of course they'll be having a whole crisis team meeting about what to do with it. And, you know, if I was them and probably what they will do is they'll put out a statement saying we absolutely adore our son and we always will do and we will always be waiting for him. And, you know, I ended up writing a column about this today and I, you know, that's true. They will be. And the reason that sounds true is people will say their team will say, you know, that sounds really authentic.

12:28Yeah. But what does authentic mean anymore? Sounds authentic. Authentic has become this word of terrible slippage where people say it's really it means like you're real enough to, you know, promote something commercial. and I wonder whether really it I really hope it can have I hope it's salvageable it's my it's my honest opinion because I hate to see these sorts of things well we'll be watching closely Marina thank you so much that's it for today my huge thanks again to Marina Hyde and do head over to theguardian.com to read her column on the Brooklyn v Beckham feud today thanks for listening to this episode of the latest the new evening edition of today in focus we'll be with you every weekday evening on what you need to know about the story everyone's talking about in around 10 minutes.

13:12This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoff. The producer was Bryony Moore. The lead producer was Zoe Hitch. This is The Guardian.