David Beckham has finally said something in the wake of Brooklyn Beckham’s scorched-earth Instagram statement, and he’s gone for a very calm, very pointed parenting line: “they make mistakes. Children are allowed to make mistakes. That’s how they learn.” The timing? Just a day after Brooklyn publicly announced he was cutting ties with his parents and laid out a six‑page list of claims about control, humiliation and “Brand Beckham”.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, David was there to talk big‑picture stuff — sport, social media and his work with Unicef — but the family drama was never far away. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, he said he has tried to “educate” his kids about the online world and the power of platforms, before landing on that now‑headline quote: “they make mistakes. Children are allowed to make mistakes. That’s how they learn. So that’s what I try to teach my kids. But you know, you have to sometimes let them make those mistakes as well.” He didn’t name Brooklyn, but given the week he’s had, it did not exactly play like a random parenting anecdote.
Outside the panel, he was even more tight-lipped. Sky News reporters followed him in Davos asking, “David, do you have a message for Brooklyn this morning?” and “are you disappointed family business is being aired in public?”, but he simply smiled and kept walking, refusing to comment. So far, that quiet smile and the “children make mistakes” line are the only things even close to a public response from his side.
Brooklyn, on the other hand, has put almost everything on the table. In his IG Story statement, he opened with: “I have been silent for years and made every effort to keep these matters private. Unfortunately my parents and their team have continued to go to the press, leaving me with no choice but to speak for myself and tell the truth about only some of the lies that have been printed.”
He then made his position crystal clear: “I do not want to reconcile with my family. I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life.”
Brooklyn claimed that “for my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family”, describing “performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships” as “a fixture of the life I was born into”.
He added: “Recently, I have seen with my own eyes the lengths that they’ll go through to place countless lies in the media, mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their own facade. But I believe the truth always comes out.”
A big portion of his statement zeroed in on his 2022 Palm Beach wedding to actor Nicola Peltz, which has been feeding rumour mills for years. “My parents have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn’t stopped,” he wrote, calling the wedding “a turning point”.
Brooklyn claimed: “My mum cancelled making Nicola’s dress in the eleventh hour despite how excited she was to wear her design, forcing her to urgently find a new dress.”
He also claimed: “Weeks before our big day, my parents repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name, which would have affected me, my wife, and our future children. They were adamant on me signing before my wedding date because then the terms of the deal would be initiated. My holdout affected the payday and they have never treated me the same since.”
Outside the wedding bubble, Brooklyn painted a wider picture of what he says life inside the Beckham machine has been like. “Since the moment I started standing up for myself with my family, I’ve received endless attacks from my parents, both privately and publicly, that were sent to the press on their orders,” he wrote.
He alleged: “Even my brothers were sent to attack me on social media, before they ultimately blocked me out of nowhere this last summer.”
Then there’s the line that’s now being pulled into almost every headline: “My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else. Brand Beckham comes first. Family ‘love’ is decided by how much you post on social media, or how quickly you drop everything to show up and pose for a family photo opp, even if it’s at the expense of our professional obligations.”
He added that “we’ve gone out of our way for years to show up and support at every fashion show, every party, and every press activity to show ‘our perfect family!’ But the one time my wife asked for my mum’s support to save displaced dogs during the LA fires, my mum refused”.
Brooklyn also used the statement to push back on the long‑running narrative that Nicola is somehow pulling the strings behind the scenes. “The narrative that my wife controls me is completely backwards. I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life,” he wrote. He said he “grew up with overwhelming anxiety”, adding: “For the first time in my life, since stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared. I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose, and have found peace and relief.”
He finished by saying: “My wife and I do not want a life shaped by image, press or manipulation. All we want is peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family.”
Meanwhile, reports around the family suggest there have been attempts — at least from one side — to cool things down. Sources told PEOPLE earlier this month that “David and Victoria have repeatedly asked Brooklyn and Nicola to meet and talk in order to move forward,” with one saying: “David loves his kids. They are his everything.”
At the same time, another insider said Brooklyn and Nicola “never wanted any of this” and are “sick of” what they see as “relentless inaccuracies” and “false narratives” about Nicola in the press. So you’ve essentially got one camp saying they want peace and privacy, and another insisting they’ve been trying to mend things behind the scenes. But as for now, neither side seem to be saying anything more direct about the situation.
