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Nicola Peltz Beckham Shares Cryptic Post Amid David Beckham, Victoria Beckham Feud
Credit Nicola Peltz Beckham with husband Brooklyn Peltz Beckham's unwillingness to continue bending it like Beckham.
"The narrative that my wife controls me is completely backwards," he wrote in a six-part Instagram Stories statement Jan. 19, finally addressing the increasingly evident rift between him and parents Victoria Beckham and David Beckham. Instead, the 26-year-old insisted, "I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life."
As a member of what he called "Brand Beckham," alongside siblings Romeo Beckham, 23, Cruz Beckham, 20, and Harper Beckham, 14, it was the onetime photographer's job to "drop everything to show up and pose for a family photo opp, even if it's at the expense of our professional obligations."
But nearly four years into his union with the Transformers: Age of Extinction actress, 31, he is done with the requisite press appearances and the forced smiles meant to hide any behind-the-scenes feelings.
As he summed up in his statement, "My wife and I do not want a life shaped by image, press, or manipulation. All we want peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family." (E! News has reached out to David and Victoria's reps for comment.)
Happily ensconced with his bride in their $16 million Beverly Hills estate, "I do not want to reconcile with my family," he insisted. "I'm not being controlled, I'm standing up for myself for the first time in my life."
As such, added the founder of hot sauce brand Cloud 23, he's no longer experiencing the intense pang of anxiety he endured for much of his life. "I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose," he wrote, "and have found peace and relief."
As for the source of that newfound bliss, meet the actress he's dubbed his "soulmate," the woman who had him asserting in their 2020 engagement announcement, "I promise to be the best husband and the best daddy one day."
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Vogue
Who is Nicola Peltz Beckham?
Though Nicola wasn't born famous like her future husband—the son of Spice Girls' Victoria and soccer icon David—she was still brought up in a winning squad.
The founder of Trian Fund Management, a multi-billion dollar firm that turns a profit investing in underperforming companies, dad Nelson Peltz has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, per Forbes, also working as the director for Madison Square Garden Sports Corp and Unilever and the non-executive chairman of Wendy’s.
Model mom Claudia Heffner Peltz, meanwhile, posed for L’Oreal, Calvin Klein, Chanel, and Revlon, before turning her focus to family and philanthropy with the Nelson and Claudia Peltz Family Foundation.
Raised in Westchester County, N.Y., with seven siblings (plus Nelson's two kids from his first marriage to Cynthia Abrams), Nicola swears her family didn't really, really, really wanna be famous.
"I come from a hockey family," she explained to Grazia. "All my brothers play hockey and my parents are, I guess, anti-Hollywood."
As for her siblings, including fellow actor Will Peltz, "I'll always be the baby in the family," she told Interview Magazine in 2014. "I’m the youngest sister, but growing up with so many boys, it makes you tough."
What films has Nicola Peltz Beckham acted in?
Though the self-described tomboy played hockey like her brothers, she set her sights on a new goal before graduating middle school.
Acting "was truthfully the only class I really enjoyed when I went to school," she told Grazia. So when a modeling go-see led to a meeting with a New York City manager, "I begged for my life."
As Nicola recounted, "She was like, 'Have you done anything?' I was like, 'No.' She was like, 'Commercials? Do you sing? Do you dance?' I was like, 'Nope, not good at that.' It was a hard sell, but here I am. Acting has definitely been in my bones since I was 10; it’s my first love."
A job at Manhattan Theatre Club led to roles in 2010's The Last Airbender, 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction and 2020's Holidate, plus a 14-episode arc as Bradley Martin in A&E's Bates Motel.
Currently, Nicola—who made her directorial debut with 2024's Lola, also writing the screenplay and starring in the drama—is appearing in Ryan Murphy's latest effort, The Beauty.
How did Nicola Peltz Beckham and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham meet?
To hear Brooklyn tell it, he knew immediately that he wanted Nicola to be his lover.
Though they were each dating other people when they crossed paths at Coachella in 2017, "I was instantly drawn to her," he recounted to Glamour last year. "She was gorgeous, obviously, but it was her warmth and energy that stuck with me. Even though it was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, I never forgot it."
So when the actress (previously linked to Justin Bieber and Anwar Hadid) enlisted his help getting a pal into Leonardo DiCaprio's 2019 Halloween bash, "He didn’t hesitate," she shared. "Two days later, we had our first kiss. That’s when the story really began."
Months in, he hopped a flight back with her to New York after she made the trip to London, admitting, "That’s the moment I knew I never wanted to be separated from her."
The two officially became one when he proposed in June 2020. But, "I knew after three months that I wanted to marry her," Brooklyn—who dated Chloë Grace Moretz on and off between 2014 and 2018—acknowledged to Glamour. "I always knew I wanted to marry young—and when I met Nicola, I was just sure."
Neil Mockford/Getty Images
When did Nicola Peltz Beckham and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham get married?
Truthfully, their vows almost happened in Vegas. Wary of holding their desired big wedding during the COVID pandemic, "There were moments when we thought, Should we just elope in Vegas?" she shared with Glamour. "But people talked us out of it."
After a nearly two-year engagement, those last 10 minutes Brooklyn spent waiting for his Valentino-clad bride to appear at the end of the aisle they created on the grounds of her parent's Florida estate, "felt like forever," he shared. "But when I saw her, everything else disappeared."
Well, nearly everything.
As Brooklyn revealed in his Jan. 19 statement, the embarrassment of his mother-son dance with Victoria still lingers. "She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone," he wrote. "I've never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life."
Their big day marred, they tapped Nicola's dad to help them renew their vows at her family's Westchester County manse in August 2025 "so we could create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness," he explained, "not anxiety and embarrassment."
LISA O'CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images
Is Nicola Peltz Beckham friends with Selena Gomez?
Brooklyn had no problem getting with his wife's friends, including close pal Selena Gomez. Connecting at the October 2022 Academy Museum Gala, Nicola and the Only Murders in the Building actress rang in 2023 twinning in Valentino dresses and matching tattoos.
"She says we're a throuple," Brooklyn joked while appearing on the Jennifer Hudson Show that March. "She’s such a sweet girl, very sweet girl. Obviously, very talented. I love when my wife makes new friends, especially like really great friends and we all get along."
But while there were plenty of well-known faces in the building when the Rare Beauty founder wed Benny Blanco last September, Brooklyn and Nicola weren't among them.
Of course, the couple's absence at various Beckham family events has been far more conspicuous. Keep reading to see how the family first began to fracture.
Kevin Mazur/MG22/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Nicola Peltz Beckham Didn’t Wear Victoria Beckham on Her Wedding Day
There’s no rule saying you have to say yes to your future mother-in-law’s signature label on your wedding day, but it was widely assumed from outside the planning circle that Nicola Peltz Beckham would wear a Victoria Beckham dress down the aisle when she and Brooklyn Beckham tied the knot in April 2022 at her family’s estate in Palm beach, Fla.
So when she didn’t, going with Valentino Couture instead… Bad blood alert!
Nicola stayed mum on the subject for months before finally saying there was no dress drama, perhaps minus the disappointment when she found out she wouldn’t be able to wear custom VB.
“I was going to and I really wanted to,” Nicola told Variety in August 2022, “and then a few months down the line, she realized that her atelier couldn’t do it, so then I had to pick another dress. She didn’t say you can’t wear it; I didn’t say I didn’t want to wear it. That’s where it started, and then they ran with that.”
Added Brooklyn, “I’ve learned they’re always going to try to write stuff like that. They’re always going to try and put people down. But everyone gets along, which is good.”
Speaking to Grazia the following month, Nicola called the Beckhams “great in-laws.”
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Victoria Beckham Supports Brooklyn Beckham's Wedding Day
Victoria, also not usually one to comment on tabloid stories until way after the fact, called the Peltz-Beckham nuptials “a beautiful wedding.”
“As a mother, to see my son so happy means so much,” she said on TODAY that October. “What more can you ask for?”
Victor Boyko/Getty Images for YouTube
Nicola Peltz Didn’t Attend Victoria Beckham’s 50th Birthday Bash
Tom Cruise and all four of Victoria’s fellow Spice Girls were at her posh 50th birthday party on April 20, 2024, but her daughter-in-law was not.
Because, Nicola soon made clear on Instagram, she was spending time with her grandmother, who died less than a month later.
In lieu of her presence at the party, Nicola wrote on Instagram, "Happy birthday to my beautiful mil @victoriabeckham i'm so sad i'm not there to celebrate you and hug you. Sending all my love from me and my naunni. I miss you all so much!" (Meanwhile, she had also shouted out Victoria on her actual April 17 birthday, captioning a photo of them together, “i love you so much and love being your dance partner forever."
And Naunni’s passing wasn’t just devastating to Nicola. On May 16, Brooklyn paid tribute on Instagram, writing, “Can’t believe it’s been a year without you naunni x you were always so happy and always made me laugh. I miss you and will love you forever x… it makes me so sad to think of our future kids not being able to know you x you were one of a kind and we miss you everyday.”
Samir Hussein/WireImage
Brooklyn Beckham Doesn’t Play Into Family Feud Narrative
Looking back at his “crazy childhood” as the son of a football star and a Spice Girl, Brooklyn told InStyle in June 2024, “I was so happy.”
And while it was admittedly “hectic,” he added, “I have the best mum and dad in the world and it was a lot of fun.”
Instagram/Victoria Beckham
Everyone’s Together for Christmas
While Brooklyn and Nicola spent part of the 2024 holiday with the Peltzes, no one needed a visit from the ghosts of Christmas Past or Future: Photos David Beckham, Victoria, Brooklyn and Nicola shared that December showed that all the Beckhams were together in the present.
"Being together for the holidays makes me so happy xxxx I love you all so much," Victoria captioned her carousel of pics, tagging all her kids and her daughter-in-law.
Victoria Beckham/Instagram
Brooklyn Beckham, Nicola Peltz Skip David Beckham’s 50th Birthday Party
No official reason given as yet, but Brooklyn and Nicola were noticeably absent from the photos his parents posted when family and friends gathered in London to celebrate David's big 5-0 in May 2025.
A source told E! News that the couple went to England, skipping the May 5 Met Gala in the process, "in hopes they could see David and celebrate his birthday with him that week, weekend instead."
Pierre Suu/GC Images
Did Brooklyn Beckham Have an Issue With Romeo Beckham’s Girlfriend?
An insider told People that it was Brooklyn who put the kibosh on attending David’s party because he didn’t want to see brother Romeo Beckham’s then-girlfriend, DJ Kim Turnbull, who had been popping up at more and more family affairs, including the March 2025 Victoria Beckham show during Paris Fashion Week, since the couple went public with their relationship in November 2024.
However, responding to an Instagram commenter who was speculating as to why Brooklyn felt so strongly about being around Kim that he skipped his dad’s party altogether, youngest brother Cruz Beckham wrote, “Brooklyn and Kim never dated.”
And E! News learned in June 2025 that Romeo and Kim have since broken up, so perhaps a brotherly reunion is in order.
Samir Hussein/WireImage, Romain Maurice/Getty Images, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Nicola Peltz Beckham Was Allegedly in Tears When Wedding Guest Marc Anthony Shouted Out Victoria Beckham
More fuel for the wedding drama fire: The newlyweds’ first dance didn’t go as expected, and it’s extremely unclear why it went down as it allegedly did.
“Brooklyn and Nicola were under the impression they were being gifted their first dance by Marc Anthony,” a source told E! News in May 2025. Instead, the singer announced, “‘Please welcome to the stage the most beautiful woman in the room—Victoria Beckham.’ Brooklyn wasn’t quite sure what to do and was put in an awkward situation.”
Moreover, the source continued, “Nicola left the room crying. She eventually came back and was able to collect herself to celebrate the rest of her wedding.”
The incident wasn’t so disastrous on the groom’s side of the family as to prevent David from being a best man at Marc’s wedding in January 2023, when he married fourth wife Nadia Ferreira. But it’s understandable if the bride had a harder time getting over it.
Brooklyn and Nicola “have made good faith efforts over the years” to have a relationship with his family, the source said, but at this time things aren’t good.
Probably apropos of nothing, though possibly not, Brooklyn called Nicola his “whole world” in a May 2025 Instagram post, writing, “I always choose you baby x you’re the most amazing person I know xx me and you forever baby.”
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham/Instagram
Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz Hire a Lawyer
When the stories get pointed, the pointed-at retain legal counsel. And the May story about Nicola being brought to tears at her own wedding three years ago may have been a harbinger of more to come.
In response to reports that Brooklyn and Nicola had hired a lawyer who has worked with the oft-written-about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a source with knowledge confirmed to E! News that the couple do have a lawyer, but not for “reputation management.”
Rather, the source said, they have hired Jenny Afi of U.K. law firm Schillings “to set the record straight, combat spread of misinformation.”
And while the solicitor’s clientele includes the Sussexes, who counted the soon-to-be-knighted David and Victoria among their wedding guests in 2018, “there is absolutely no connection to Meghan and Harry,” the insider added. “Schillings is a respected firm with a wide range of clients.”
Suggesting otherwise, the source said, ironically demonstrated “exactly why one hires legal counsel, to set the record straight and combat the spread of deliberate misinformation.”
Rich Storry/Getty Images
Brooklyn Beckham Absent for David Beckham's Career Milestones
When David was awarded a knighthood in November 2025, neither Brooklyn or Nicola publicly commented on the accolade. The couple was also noticeably absent when David's soccer team Inter Miami CF won the MLS Cup in December 2025—with only Victoria, Romeo, Cruz and Harper at the game to celebrate the victory.
Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images
Brooklyn Beckham Allegedly Blocks His Parents and Siblings on Instagram
After fans noticed that neither David or Victoria were following Brooklyn's Instagram in late December 2025, Cruz shut down speculation that the longtime couple blocked their oldest son on social media.
“NOT TRUE,” he wrote on Instagram Stories. “My mum and dad would never unfollow their son..Let’s get the facts right. They woke up blocked…as did I."
Nicola Peltz Beckham/Instagram
Brooklyn Beckham Spends Christmas Away From Family
Brooklyn Beckham skipped out on his family's 2025 Christmas celebrations, opting to spend the holiday with wife Nicola's family instead, including her mom Claudia Heffner Peltz and dad Nelson Peltz. Meanwhile, younger brother Cruz spent a cozy holiday at home with his parents.
Dave Benett/WireImage
David Beckham Leaves Brooklyn Beckham Out of New Years Eve Post
In David's recap of 2025, the soccer star shared several photos with family and friends from throughout the year. However, not a single one included his eldest son or Brooklyn's wife Nicola amid rumors of their family rift.
Hour later, David shared throwback snapshots of himself with each of his and Victoria's kids, writing over a black-and-white portrait with Brooklyn, "I love you all so much."
Brookyln Peltz Beckham/Instagram
Brooklyn Beckham Breaks His Silence
In January 2026, Brooklyn shared a lengthy statement to Instagram detailing his estrangement with his family.
“I do not want to reconcile with my family,” he wrote. “I'm not being controlled, I'm standing up for myself for the first time in my life.”
Among the allegations in his post, Brooklyn claimed his parents “have controlled narratives in the press” about their family, that they have only cared about "Brand Beckham" and that they’ve long been trying “to ruin” his and Nicola’s relationship.
And while he said he grew up with anxiety, since distancing himself from his family he's felt "peace and relief.”
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