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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To find it disturbing how many people are sneering at and belittling Brooklyn Beckham?

67 replies

Gahr · 24/01/2026 20:07

I know, I know. He's rich, privileged, yadda yadda. I do get that and obviously there are many people who are far worse off.

With that said, the number of people, on here and elsewhere, who are staunchly Team Beckham and more especially Team Victoria truly disturb me. It's as if people really do believe that their children belong to them. I think that even if we allow for exaggeration, the Beckhams' behaviour has been pretty gross. I personally don't believe that Brooklyn is lying or even greatly exaggerating, their odd behaviour has been on display for a long time now. People screech about how 'ungrateful' he is but I don't really see that he owes them any huge amount of gratitude. He only released his version after they kept needling him and briefing the press to be negative about him. I'm reminded of the 'Stately Homes' thread on this site, about parents who think that they are great parents because they supplied their kids' material needs.

OP posts:
LillianGish · 25/01/2026 08:57

MrsLizzieDarcy · 25/01/2026 07:47

My take is that he's a desperately troubled young man who has had his entire life played out in the media and on social media that he's never consented to. Children need far better laws protecting them from their parents monetising their childhoods. My grandchildren follow a family from the US on Youtube and too many moments of their days are recorded - their home, their bedrooms, their holidays, their hobbies. The only privacy they get is at school and only because their parents aren't allowed to film there. It's horrifying. And there are thousands and thousands of them doing it. I wonder how those children are going to feel in years to come...

Brooklyn was monetised from the day he was born, and now V & D are paying the price for it - I have little sympathy to be honest.

I tend to agree with this. In fact this crosses my mind every time I see a post/story/TV show featuring Amanda Owen these days - someone who talks a good game about getting outside and off screens, but seems to spend most of her time on one, along with her kids. Obviously BB knew nothing different when he was younger, growing up as part of the brand. Now he’s an adult he can more clearly see how artificial and carefully curated this perfect family image was. The trouble is he has married someone who is equally desperate to build her own brand - so in trying to seek a more authentic way of living, he’s jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. He doesn’t have any unique skills himself, so being part of a.brand seems like a legitimate means of making money to him and he completely lacks the self awareness to realise that being part of a brand is part of what attracted his wife to him in the first place. He literally can’t help himself - it’s all he knows.

Thundertoast · 25/01/2026 09:00

Its because people who are currently parents are much more likely to have been brought up by the generation where you do NOT question your parents and MUST be grateful no matter what.
AND
Your child rejecting you is such a deep primal fear
That for a lot of people, when parents speak out about their kids, they are presumed to be in the right, but if a child speaks out about their parent, it cannot be true and they are ungrateful and they have misunderstood and noone's perfect blah blah blah.
This particular case is not abuse, but a lot of people who've been in the unfortunate situation where a child in their family has suffered abuse will attest to the fact that people do not WANT to believe a parent is capable of mistreating their child.

Bougainsillier · 25/01/2026 09:54

I think it’s two issues. I can feel some sympathy with a child who’s upbringing has been traumatic wanting to distance themselves, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for lengthy bleats on instagram saying they want privacy and whinging.

JacknDiane · 25/01/2026 09:58

It's a load of shite about nothing really.

TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis · 25/01/2026 10:01

One thing you can never underestimate with MN responses is that it increasingly skews older as its users age with it. Posters more typically side with those like them - in this case, perhaps, parents of adult children who default to seeing him as childish and spoiled.

Lots of the arguments revolve around wealth, but they're entirely illogical. D&V are wealthy, so either they shared their wealth with their children or not - not giving your children luxuries when you're wealthy would be very weird indeed, and when you've built your family brand by pimping out the kids, they do have a say in that!

Elizabethandfour · 25/01/2026 10:01

Envy has no empathy. You see it all the time on MN, if your household income is more than 50k you can’t have problems.

DontGoJasonWaterfalls · 25/01/2026 10:06

I think many of the people posting in support of the Beckhams will be the same people posting "Why don't my adult children speak to me? Why can't I see my grandkids?" in a few years' time.

It's also definitely an age thing. I'm in my early 30s; most people I know my age sympathise with BB.

MaybeThisTimeILlbeLucky · 25/01/2026 10:11

Interesting article in the times todsy written from the parents perspective and how it's a grief to be cut off.

What about the children who have been pushed to do it ?

It's a grief and sadness for them also and often the end of a very long painful road where they have not been listened to.

MaybeThisTimeILlbeLucky · 25/01/2026 10:12

@Elizabethandfour I've never heard that before is that a saying ?

It's so so true.

I've seen it applied to Harry

Decisionsdecisions1 · 25/01/2026 10:30

I’m older but have no sympathy for either side, Brooklyn would do better to get his head out of his naval and look at his Republican supporting in laws and what that is doing the USA and the world at large.

The level of utter self obsession from all of them is pitiful.

RainbowBagels · 25/01/2026 10:38

dadtoateen · 24/01/2026 20:41

You mean comments with other folks opinions?? How dare they have an opinion different to yours 🤣

If you say ' I dont understand why you care about this topic'. Its basically saying 'my opinion is you shouldnt have an opinion on things Im not interested in!'
Its like men who comment on any showbiz/fashion /lifestyle issues saying 'Is this news?' or 'who?' yet spend all day looking at sports stories ( also not news). People are interested in different things. Its easier not to comment than it is to click on a thread to comment.

Elizabethandfour · 25/01/2026 10:45

Decisionsdecisions1 · 25/01/2026 10:30

I’m older but have no sympathy for either side, Brooklyn would do better to get his head out of his naval and look at his Republican supporting in laws and what that is doing the USA and the world at large.

The level of utter self obsession from all of them is pitiful.

TDS. This has nothing to do with Trump, my god!

Proudofitbabe · 25/01/2026 10:56

Well I’m in my 30s and don’t like the Beckhams, and I don’t sympathize with him at all. He’d never have made it into the same room as his wife if not for his surname. It comes across that having utilised and maximised the advantages of being in his family, he’s now happy to publicly humiliate them (his mother in particular) just because he no longer needs their money.

His gripe might be valid - who knows - but it’s nobody’s business. The Insta stuff is pure Jezza Kyle from someone so privileged, and he’s nearly 30. Awful. I’m v. surprised the Peltzes signed off on it.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 25/01/2026 11:06

Thehorticuluralhussie · 24/01/2026 20:13

I actually find it disturbing that anyone cares in the slightest to be honest, but maybe that’s just me.

You are not alone!

DancingLions · 25/01/2026 11:22

I don’t get the whole “he’d never have got his wife without his surname”. She would never have met him without hers! You can say that about the kids of anyone famous or extremely wealthy. They’re all in the circles they’re in for that reason.

From the snippets I’ve seen, it sounds like he was always somewhat of an anxious kid. That would make it hard being in the spotlight. True, he and Nicola do make posts but I guess that’s all in their control. The Peltzs as a family appear more private and he probably likes that and it’s shown him another way of living. I’d never heard of them before she married Brooklyn.

At the same time D&V probably have been blindsided by this. They haven’t necessarily been malicious in their actions. I don’t know. But pushy parents and kids who never feel good enough is a tale as old as time. Happens frequently among the non famous too.

I don’t think anyone is necessarily lying. They just have different viewpoints on things. Ultimately he’s sticking up for his wife. How many threads do we see on here where women are upset because their DH isn’t standing up to their MIL!

People just love to hate, whichever side they’re hating on. They love to watch car crashes in motion. That’s the nature of human beings.

LadyLaLaLand · 25/01/2026 12:56

People just love to hate, whichever side they’re hating on. They love to watch car crashes in motion. That’s the nature of human beings.

Yes. It’s really sad how there is so much unnecessary hatred in the world. I don’t think it should be excused as natural though. We all have a responsibility to question ourselves when we think or say hateful things….especially about people we don’t know, and regardless of what people think they know, they DO NOT know either of these two families enough to decide they hate either one. The way hatred is so casually thrown about is really depressing. It shows how immature and emotionally unintelligent so many truly are.

MammaBear1 · 25/01/2026 12:59

None of us can know the truth.

Whats the most disturbing though, is that Victoria and Nicola are the ones being blamed. Of course it’s always the woman to blame isn’t it?

Regardless, it’s really sad that this is being played out in public.

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