How Brooklyn’s ex Hana Cross is haunted by romance as she makes move to finally free herself of brand Beckham amid feud
SHE went from a little known model to posing for Fendi almost overnight when she started dating Brooklyn Beckham.
Stunning Hana Cross, now 28, dated the nepo baby for just eight months but almost seven years on the Beckham family name still haunts her – and as insiders tell us she’s gained a reputation for being difficult to work with, the famous connection is doing more and more of the heavy lifting.
An industry source explained: “Hana can be hard work behind the scenes, especially when things don’t go her way, and that’s started to follow her.
“Brands are becoming more hesitant, not because of one specific issue, but because of a general unpredictability around how things might be received with her.
“Brands have mentioned how difficult she is to work with. She’s a stunning girl with so much potential but there’s a sense some partnerships have cooled as companies weigh up whether the attention she brings is the right kind.
“There’s a growing feeling in the industry that a lot of the attention around her still ties back to her past with Brooklyn, whether she likes it or not.”
We’re told she recently hired a new press team to help restore her reputation and shed the family name once and for all.
It became apparent just how far off that dream was earlier this year as she found herself dragged into the Beckham family drama surrounding Brooklyn falling out with his parents.
Our source continued: “The recent Beckham drama has definitely rattled her more than she’s letting on, she’s trying to stay composed but it’s clearly unsettled things behind the scenes
“She’s more cautious than ever now, particularly when it comes to anything linked to that circle
“She’s brought in a new PR team in an attempt to reset the narrative and give herself a fresh angle. There’s a sense that without her Brooklyn ties, there’s not much cutting through in terms of her own identity.”
The Leeds-born model started dating the eldest of the Beckham brood, 27, back in 2018, but it was a tumultuous time, overshadowed by a series of very public rows.
Hana was thrown into the spotlight – compared to Brooklyn she’s had a very modest upbringing, living in Huddersfield and then Chipping Campden, where she attended the local state school.
From Leeds to LA
Born Hana Mahmood, her mum Sarah was working in a shop when she married Khalid Mahmood in November 1994.
When she was 18 she was scouted while out shopping with her mum in Cotswolds. She had been planning to go to university to study business with equine studies, but her career took off pretty quickly.
Hana has worked for everyone from high street brands Topshop and New Look to designers Valentino and Missoni.
She was 21 when she first met Brooklyn, who was 19 at the time. It’s thought that Brooklyn’s cousin Libby Adams introduced them and they soon became inseparable.
The couple appeared to have their struggles at the time and they were pictured seemingly having a heated discussion outside a Los Angeles restaurant.
And not long after, another confrontation at the Agent Provocateur party, at Annabel’s members club in London in September 2019, left Hanna running to the bathroom in tears.
A fellow partygoer at the time told The Sun Online: “They were chatting together and it was very tense. By the end of it I could hear Brooklyn say, ‘it is what it is.’
“He walked off and she went back to her friends looking dejected, but she held it together while her pals comforted her”.
Brooklyn’s parents Victoria and David were said to be “seriously frustrated” by the negative attention the rows were creating and warned him to spend more time with the family.
Looking back at that time in a rare interview Hana admitted that dating the budding chef and being part of the famous family sparked her “anxiety” .
She told Hello! Magazine: “My time with the family caused me a lot of anxiety, in all honesty.
“There were a lot of warning signs and things that happened during the relationship that, in hindsight, should have made me think and maybe end the relationship or walk away a lot sooner than it did”.
In recent months Brooklyn’s current relationship – his marriage to Nicola Peltz – has come under scrutiny due to his very public family feud.
The famous family’s spat exploded when he launched a nuclear attack on his famous parents – blasting his Spice Girls star mother, 51, in a damning message posted on social media.
Hana admitted: “It’s hard not to be mentally drawn back into that part of my life, especially with all this feud stuff coming out.
“It’s hard because I don’t look back on that as a fond time, on reflection.”
The couple finally called it quits in the summer of 2019, which was said to be a huge relief to Brooklyn’s parents. Little did they know Nicola Peltz was just around the corner.
Hana had a brief foray into music and released a track that seemed to hint at Brooklyn.
She sang: “I wish that someone told me you had a habit for dishonesty – though you break my heart, I want to stay.”
She went on to date Jude Law‘s son Rafferty, Jack Whitehall and Scott Disick. She’s now living in LA and was last linked to aristocrat Peregrine Pearson, following his split from Sophie Turner.
Our insider added: “It’s a bit of a catch 22 situation because she knows that without Brooklyn she wouldn’t be where she is now and it’s still the thing people are most interested about with her.
“But she’s determined to push forward and prove she can stand on her own.”