On Monday, the Beckham family was in Paris. Well, the family minus Brooklyn Beckham and his wife. The Beckhams gathered in Paris because Victoria was being honored by the French Ministry of Culture. VB’s line shows during Paris Fashion Week, so the French consider Victoria part of their adopted culture, I guess. She became a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. Three of her children were there – Romeo, Harper and Cruz. Romeo brought his girlfriend Kim Turnbull and Cruz brought Jackie Apostel. Both Kim and Jackie are giving “young Posh” vibes – a Freudian nightmare. It does make me wonder if Victoria is so particularly anti-Nicola Peltz because Brooklyn chose a bride who doesn’t look like a young Posh. Anyway, Victoria was honored and she thanked her family, David and everyone in Paris.
Meanwhile, Victoria and David are still trying to regain control of the narrative around their falling out with Brooklyn and Nicola. I hoped that V&D would just keep a respectful silence, or perhaps even issue a statement saying something along the lines of “we love our son and we’ll respect his desire for distance for now.” Instead, Victoria is sending out “friends” to dispute Brooklyn and DJ Fat Tony’s version of events at the 2022 wedding. From a new Mail exclusive:
When Victoria Beckham was called to the stage at her son Brooklyn’s wedding by one of her best friends, the Latino singer Marc Anthony, she could not have imagined how much it would come to haunt her four years later. Shaking her hips and touching her son’s neck, friends of Victoria, 51, have described it as a ‘wholesome’ interlude at the heart of her beloved eldest son’s special day. But it has led to a global pile-on for the star.
How Brooklyn felt about it was unclear at the time. But last Monday, as part of his jaw-dropping attack on both of his parents, the 26-year-old complained that his mother had danced ‘inappropriately on me in front of everyone’, adding he had ‘never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life’. It was enough, he went on, for his new wife, Nicola Peltz, to storm off in tears.
Some reports since then have suggested it was Anthony himself who triggered the upset by asking ‘the most beautiful woman in the room’ to join him on stage – something which might cause even the most relaxed of brides to bristle. No one, surely, can blame Victoria for that. But whatever the cause, a source has told The Mail on Sunday that it left Nicola so inconsolable that she had to be comforted in the family’s guest house by her mother and siblings. Indeed, ever since the 2022 wedding, Victoria has been accused by some of ruining the day.
But today, friends of the pop star-turned-fashion designer have spoken to the MoS on her behalf for the first time – opening up about what has gone on at the Beckhams’ home since that blistering attack by one of their own. And at the heart of how Victoria feels today, they say, is a deeply emotional response that perhaps any mother might understand – being ‘shamed’ by her son so publicly for what ultimately amounted to nothing more than a heartfelt moment of affection.
After all, as any video footage of the Beckhams together has always demonstrated, they are a physically affectionate family. The stark truth, they add, is that Nicola simply ‘didn’t like it’.
As one friend told the MoS yesterday: ‘Why shouldn’t Victoria be tactile with her son? She is tactile with all of her children and she always has been. She has nothing to apologise for, yet she has been vilified for that dance for almost four years now and that is disgusting. The Beckhams are a tactile family. David still kisses the boys when they come home – they have always been close and cuddly – and Brooklyn has been tactile, too. It was authentic. David and Victoria are young, soppy parents and yet last week she was shamed for it.’
‘It is deeply unfair and upsetting. There was nothing inappropriate about the dance. Nicola just didn’t like that Brooklyn was dancing with his mother so she ran off crying. It wasn’t about how she was dancing – it was to an upbeat, dancey salsa song, not exactly a Marvin Gaye love song, for goodness’ sake. Why would you cry about that?’
David, moreso than Victoria, does have the reputation of being very touchy-feely with his children. He’s always been super-affectionate with them. But is Victoria like that? Recollections may vary. And as DJ Fat Tony said, it was a big deal at the time, during the wedding, and Brooklyn was visibly upset at that moment. Victoria either ignored that or she got the response she wanted, which was upsetting her son and his bride. Victoria wasn’t being “shamed” for being affectionate, she was being called out privately and publicly for behaving in a way which made her son and his wife deeply uncomfortable on their wedding day.
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Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
