THIS isn’t war; it’s an all out nuclear one.
After 18 months of dignified silence, young Brooklyn Beckham has finally hurled his grenade.
And wow, did he hit his target.
Not since Coleen Rooney Tweeted with her famous ellipsis ……. It’s Rebekah Vardy, has my phone popped off the way it did after his story.
Make no mistake, though, this is MAD: mutually assured destruction. Some might say “mad” in the other sense of the word.
Unequivocally there is no way back now.
I am told Brooklyn made this decision to launch his weapons-grade statement himself.
He was under absolutely no coercive control from anyone. Indeed it is crystal clear he is utterly sick of the lazy misogynistic trope that has been used against his American wife. The notion he has no mind of his own, and does what his missus tells him.
He, of course, shared his plan with Nicola, who gave him over unwavering support. They are, after all, a team.
For 26 years Brooklyn has toed the Beckham party line, holding his silence and never once airing his family’s dirty laundry.
Now, for whatever reason, he has decided this ends. Today.
He has, as his generation say, spoken his truth.
Of course no-one knows outside of the two families – the Beckhams and the Peltzs – what has really happened over the past year and a half.
And as the late Queen once said, recollections may vary.
Which is fitting because Brooklyn and Nicola’s situation is so incredibly similar to that of royal exiles, Meghan and Harry (about whom the Queen was referencing in her statement).
Brooklyn, by virtue of his surname, has grown up in the spotlight.
And as Harry once said, he cannot help who he was born to. He never asked for fame, never asked to be part of this world.
Will Brooklyn now drop his family name? If it is such an albatross around his neck, perhaps he will.
Certainly, married to a billionairess, he doesn’t need their millions. His in-laws, after all, have billions.
However, Brooklyn must surely be aware that he has his platform – 16million followers on Instagram alone – thanks to his superstar parents. To suggest otherwise would be utterly disingenuous.
Brooklyn is genuinely a lovely boy by all accounts. Polite and down to earth. This just seems so extraordinarily out of character.
Clemmie Moodie
They have helped him financially in the past, and given him a leg-up when he’s needed it.
But not any more.
Brooklyn is genuinely a lovely boy by all accounts. Polite and down to earth. This just seems so extraordinarily out of character.
Friends tell me his incendiary six-part Instagram soliloquy has absolutely “floored” David and Victoria.
They are, I’m told, “absolutely blindsided” by this truth bomb.
For a family who, as Brooklyn points out, been at such odds to control their narrative, their very lucrative brand, this is unbelievably out of their hands.
Brooklyn Beckham’s statement in full
“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.
“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.
“For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family.
“The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into.
“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.
“My parents have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn’t stopped.
“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.
“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.
“During the wedding planning, my mum went so far as to call me ‘evil’ because Nicola and I chose to include my Nanny Sandra, and Nicola’s Naunni at our table, because they both didn’t have their husbands.
“Both of our parents had their own tables equally adjacent to ours.
“The night before our wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was ‘not blood’ and ‘not family’.
“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.
“Even my brothers were sent to attack me on social media, before they ultimately blocked me out of nowhere this last Summer.
“My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife, which had been planned weeks in advance to a romantic love song.
“In front of our 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead.
“She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.
“We wanted to renew our vows so we could create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment.
“My wife has been consistently disrespected by my family, no matter how hard we’ve tried to come together as one.
“My mum has repeatedly invited women from my past into our lives in ways that were clearly intended to make us both uncomfortable.
“Despite this, we still travelled to London for my dad’s birthday and were rejected for a week as we waited in our hotel room trying to plan quality time with him.
“He refused all of our attempts, unless it was at his big birthday party with a hundred guests and cameras at every corner.
“When he finally agreed to see me, it was under the condition that Nicola wasn’t invited. It was a slap in the face.
“Later, when my family travelled to LA, they refused to see me at all.
“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.
“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.
“The narrative that my wife controls me is completely backwards. I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life. I grew up with overwhelming anxiety.
“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.
“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.”
His siblings, too, are devastated to have lost a once loving and loyal brother.
Over the next few weeks, newspapers, social media and the world of showbiz will be poring over this statement, dissecting it word by word.
I hope all parties concerned can somehow navigate a way through this, and that everyone is getting the support.
Clemmie Moodie
Yet in all this, it’s important we don’t lose sight of the fact these are real human beings with real feelings. Everyone is hurting. No-one wanted this.
For Brooklyn to have gone this far, he must be desperate. Certainly he sounds like a man in pain.
Victoria told me in our interview two months ago that she had therapy; She believes in mental health, and this will hurt her.
Her beloved eldest son’s words are deeply personal, and she must be hurt, embarrassed and very, very confused.
I hope all parties concerned can somehow navigate a way through this, and that everyone is getting the support – both personal and professional – they may need.
Will the Beckhams do what Brooklyn alleges they have refused to do, and contact him away from prying eyes? (Something David and Victoria folly refute).
No-one, except them, can possibly know.
But one thing is for sure – Brooklyn isn’t staying silent any more.