SARAH VINE: Brooklyn’s accusations about Victoria are so hurtful. But at the heart of it there’s now a truly troubling question for the Beckhams

To the untrained eye, it may seem like Beckham’s children don’t want anything. But according to their eldest son, Brooklyn, these are all empty, empty lies.

“My family values ​​public recognition and support above all else,” he wrote in a six-page review on Instagram this week.

‘Brand Beckham comes first. Family “love” is determined by how much you post on social media or how quickly you drop everything and pose for a family photoshoot. “I’ve been controlled by my family for most of my life,” he added. ‘I grew up with overwhelming anxiety.’

Ah. But that’s not even the worst part. The harshest and most hurtful criticism was directed at Brooklyn’s mother, Victoria.

He claims Victoria ‘missed my first dance with my wife, which was planned weeks in advance’ at her wedding to Nicola Peltz in 2022.

‘In front of our 500 wedding guests,’ he wrote: ‘Marc Anthony [the pop star] He called me to the stage, it was planned that I would have a romantic dance with my wife, but my mother was waiting to dance with me instead.

‘He danced with me in a very inappropriate way in front of everyone. ‘I’ve never felt so uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.’

The words ‘She danced over me in a very inappropriate way’ were cruel and calculated to cause maximum damage. The implication of the use of the word ‘on’ is clear. ‘On’, not ‘with’.

In other words, this wasn’t just an embarrassing mommy dance (there’s always a risk at any wedding, especially if I’m involved), this was something more uncomfortable, unwanted and intrusive, perhaps even quite sinister.

Essentially, he accuses Victoria of dancing with him in a sexually charged manner at his wedding, putting herself between him and his new wife in an extremely suspicious way.

The implication is that Victoria is a shameless narcissist and control freak who will stop at nothing to put herself in the spotlight, and is wildly jealous of her son’s wife, a saint in human form.

I don’t know whether to reference Freud or the Brothers Grimm. Probably both.

As the mother of a 21-year-old son myself, I cannot imagine how devastating this accusation must have been for Victoria. If I thought my son felt this way about me, I would be completely beside myself with guilt and shame, even more so if he decided to share that accusation with the world.

Why would a child humiliate his mother like this? I completely understand the fact that, as Brooklyn’s statement suggests, he is resentful of what he sees as Victoria’s rejection of his choice of bride.

But why would you say something so terrible and guaranteed to hurt? What cruelties could she and David have inflicted on him to justify such revenge?

Brooklyn talks about finding true love, but I’m afraid what we see from him is the language of someone consumed with hatred. Not since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused the royal family of racism has a public family feud turned this bitter.

Victoria is accompanied by her parents Anthony and Jackie Adams at the wedding.

Nicola wore a designer Valentino dress after Victoria stopped designing dresses for herself at the “11th hour”

This is terrible, perverted, and utterly ungrateful when you consider the many advantages Brooklyn has in her life thanks to her parents.

And talk about burning your bridges.

These things may be comforting in the short term, but who knows what will happen in the long term? There may come a day when he needs his elderly mother and father (or at least their money).

But how can there be a way back for him now? Especially since, like major royal implications, this appears to be a case of ‘recollections may vary’.

According to Vogue magazine, which covered the wedding, it’s not true that Victoria had her big moment with her new wife.

The newlyweds danced their first dance to South African singer Lloyiso’s rendition of Elvis Presley’s song Can’t Help Falling in Love.

Brooklyn danced with her mother, but then, around 11pm, when David appeared on stage with Brooklyn’s younger sister Harper and ‘Brooklyn invited her mother on stage for a dance’.

Perhaps at the time Victoria was a little moved by the spirit of the occasion; Maybe his actions were a little extreme. But ‘inappropriate’? This is truly a slap in the face.

They say that as a parent you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child, and Victoria must be completely miserable right now. The normally very composed David looked nervous and tired at an event in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday. So who can blame them?

Because although Brooklyn claims in his statement that ‘I wake up every morning with gratitude for the life I have chosen and find peace and relief’, it is clear that he is far from happy. Happy people don’t attack. Happy people do not make others suffer in this way.

This, rather than the accusations, is probably what bothers his family: How can their son be so moody and twisted?

Brooklyn and his new wife attended brunch at his home in Palm Beach after the ceremony

I don’t know the Beckhams very well. But our sons, their third child, Cruz, and my youngest, Will, played on the same football team together. Sure, they were worlds apart in terms of talent, but still, for a brief moment, they were on the same page.

Besides being hugely famous and stupidly handsome, David was a perfectly ordinary touchline dad. He would stand there in the pouring rain, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets, his hat tucked over his ears, shouting his usual words of encouragement.

Every now and then a member of the public would approach to take a selfie and get an autograph, and he obliged, keeping one eye on the field.

From time to time, Victoria and baby Harper join her, often sheltering in the Range Rover from the weather (one gets the impression that football isn’t really Victoria’s thing).

I can’t really tell if this is all just ‘performative’ as Brooklyn describes it. It seemed completely real to me at the time.

Of course, David’s relationship with his son Cruz seemed far from “unreal.” He was, if anything, extremely present. He was also very kind to the other children.

I’m sure there’s some truth to Brooklyn’s criticism. Like many famous celebrity couples, the Beckhams promote a carefully curated image that fuels their business ventures, from David’s lucrative endorsement deals to Victoria’s fashion company.

This ‘brand’ that their sons mock is what provides them with much of their wealth and enables their children to live the lives they live.

Brooklyn might not care about any of this; After all, his wife Nicola comes from a family even richer than the Beckhams.

That’s okay with him: he’ll never be without the Learjet. But that’s not fair to his siblings who might not be so lucky. And to the rest of the world, that reeks of entitlement.

As for the idea that he’s finally free after a lifetime of being a slave to ‘performative social media posts’, that’s complete nonsense.

He swapped one image-obsessed family for another, both of which are pretty relentless, as his wife’s own selfies and Instagram posts show.

Whatever you think of David and Victoria Beckham, at least they earned their fame and fortune, at least they lived in the real world, at least they deserve their success.

Brooklyn and Nicola are two spoiled nepo babies who have nothing better to do than complain about how awful their lives are.

Neither of them has any idea what real suffering or hard work looks like.