As David Beckham marked his 50th birthday with extravagant celebrations, he probably did not anticipate witnessing his own sons embroiled in a public feud.
Despite hosting multiple parties in France, London, and the Cotswolds, the focus has shifted to the ongoing conflict between his oldest son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz on one side, and the rest of the family on the other.
Brooklyn, aged 26, and his partner, aspiring actress Nicola aged 30, have noticeably stayed away from all of their father’s birthday festivities, sparking widespread speculation about the reasons behind their absence.
The pair were not at David’s birthday dinner at Core restaurant in Notting Hill, west London at the weekend.
They also failed to join David and Victoria and their other children Romeo, Cruz and Harper when the family flew to France for a day of celebrations on Friday.
And they were also absent from a big family party at the Beckhams’ £10million Cotswolds estate last Wednesday, when David and Victoria were joined by their parents and siblings.
That their eldest son, owner of hot sauce brand Cloud23, should fail to turn up was even more surprising since Brooklyn and Nicola were in London the entire time, having jetted in from their Los Angeles home.
Among the various conspiracy theories that have sprung up to explain Brooklyn’s repeated no-shows, some have centred on Romeo’s girlfriend, DJ and entrepreneur Kim Turnbull, 25.
Kim, is the well-heeled granddaughter of renowned post-war sculptor and painter William Turnbull, while her father Alex Turnbull and uncle Johnny were part of the post-punk band 23 Skidoo, formed in 1979.
She previously dated Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s son Rocco, and through that connection was part of a tightknit friendship group in 2016 which included Brooklyn Beckham.
Kim and Brooklyn were undeniably close for a brief period – as photographs of them together at the time show – but suggestions that they were ever an item are wide of the mark, according to well-informed sources.
That Kim has now been ‘thrown to the wolves’ as the reason behind the family row is ‘deeply upsetting’ to Brooklyn’s parents and brothers.
In fact, younger brother Cruz, 20, personally shut down the gossip recently when he responded to an Instagram post showing a picture of Romeo and Kim together.
In a now-deleted message, one user commented: ‘It’s appropriate to date your brother’s ex too? Cool.’
Cruz replied: ‘Brooklyn and Kim never dated.’
One friend told the Mail’s Katie Hind at the weekend: ‘This is nothing to do with Kim and is all about Nicola.
‘All David and Victoria want is their son back – and they will be there to welcome him any time.’
Family friends claim Brooklyn’s wife has a pattern of ‘starting an argument’ before family events and then preventing her husband from attending.
Some believe that friends of Nicola have been behind the briefings about Kim being the cause of Brooklyn’s rift with his family, some of which went so far to claim that he had told them he refused to come to any event at which Kim was present.
A source close to the family told MailOnline: ‘Brooklyn was close to Kim because she was dating Rocco and they all hung out in a tightknit friendship group. But that was years ago. Brooklyn and Kim were close, but there was never any romance.
‘It seems Nicola doesn’t like Brooklyn spending any time with the Beckhams full stop and is using his previous closeness to Kim and her getting in with the family as a reason to not be around them. She denies it, but Nicola has been controlling him since the wedding. The family – including the brothers – have had enough of it.
‘This is the narrative that’s been put out to other news outlets, that Romeo is dating his brother’s ex-girlfriend – and that’s really weird, so that’s why they wouldn’t want to be around the family when she is there.
‘But none of this is true. And it’s really upset Romeo and his parents because Kim is seemingly being used by Nicola as a reason to start the rift. Romeo is furious at the suggestion that he would bring an ex-girlfriend of Brooklyn into the family when there never was any romance.’
Kim, from north London, works as a model and DJ, which forms a link to her uncle Johnny beyond his youthful punk days, as he’s also the founder of UK hip hop label Ronin Records and boasts plenty of connections in the music industry.
Like Romeo, Kim has collaborated with several fashion brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, and is often spotted at exclusive events with other stars.
Kim spent her teen years partying with Brooklyn and Rocco Ritchie, whom she befriended after he moved to London.
Romeo first publicly launched his relationship with Kim last November after weeks of exchanging flirty ‘likes’ on Instagram and she has since been warmly welcomed into the family.
Around this time, Nicola and Brooklyn, who have always been loyal ‘likes’ of his social media posts, stopped showing any appreciation for his content.
Kim looked comfortable posing with the famously tight-knit Beckham family in group pictures shared of them online over the past few months, most recently at David’s birthday celebrations.
According to TMZ, Brooklyn and Nicola requested to privately see David on his own to celebrate his birthday away from Romeo and Kim.
The publication claimed Brooklyn and Nicola ‘would not be present at any public family events that Kim is at for the foreseeable’ after things started to ‘go south in December’.
But it has since been suggested that Brooklyn told his parents that he would be around to celebrate David’s birthday, before his screeching U-turn on the matter.
The couple apparently flew to the UK with the ‘sole purpose’ of celebrating with David but they were apparently told their options were to attend the family events or not at all.
The US publication also suggested that Brooklyn and Nicola reached out privately to wish David a happy birthday on the big day.
It was claimed Brooklyn and Nicola pulled out of attending the Met Gala with the intention of attending David’s birthday party, but were no shows at both events.
A source told The Sun, Brooklyn was planning to attending David’s 50th birthday party, but felt too uncomfortable to come after he felt Nicola was being blamed for the rift with his family.
An insider claimed: ‘They cancelled plans to attend the Met because they really intended to be at David’s party on Saturday.
‘But Brooklyn is really upset that blame for the rift has been levelled at Nicola.
‘She has never told him what to do and has been nothing but supportive — she’s a loyal wife.’
Claims that Brooklyn and Nicola were rebuffed when they asked David and Victoria to celebrate David’s birthday privately were also said to be untrue.
Sources close to Nicola told US website TMZ they wanted ‘to get together privately’ to avoid Romeo’s girlfriend Kim Turnbull as the couple are said to ‘have a problem’ with her.
Brooklyn missed out on David’s early celebrations in Miami last month as well as parties in the Cotswolds, France and London this week.
Following the birthday party snub, it was revealed Brooklyn also declined an invitation by his father to join him and his brothers on a ‘boys’ fishing trip to celebrate his 50th.
The Mail revealed David invited Brooklyn on a short break six months ago when he began planning, yet his son failed to go despite arriving in the UK the day he went with Romeo and Cruz.
Sources have suggested that Brooklyn’s decision was influenced by his American actress wife Nicola, 30.
‘Brooklyn was asked to join them ages ago,’ one claimed.
‘Then he came to London in time but he didn’t go. Once again David made the best of things and had a great time with Cruz and Romeo.’
David still offered an olive branch to his son as he shared snaps from the trip, as he captioned one of his posts: ‘You were missed @brooklynbeckham.’
On Saturday, the family celebrated with A-list pals including Tom Cruise and David’s former teammates at three Michelin-star Core in Kensington, West London.
During the party, Romeo stepped up in older brother Brooklyn’s absence as he delivered a speech.
Romeo reportedly told guests: ‘Good evening everyone. I would like to start by thanking you all for being here tonight.
‘I know without many of you in here tonight he wouldn’t be half of the man he is today. But to the man of the moment…’
But as the party continued at the restaurant into the early hours, neighbours complained leading to a visit from two council officers at 3:35am.
An onlooker told The Sun: ‘David’s party really went off and the longer time went on, the louder the music seemed to get.
‘Some neighbours weren’t very happy when it was still so loud at 2am and leaned out windows to see where the racket was from.’
Kensington and Chelsea Council told MailOnline that advice was given to minimise disruption and onlookers revealed that the music stopped immediately.
They said: ‘We have a very responsive and professional team who investigate noise complaints and take action where necessary.
‘Usually, and in this case, that means issuing some advice at a location, so disruption is kept to a minimum for residents living nearby.’
