David Beckham is keeping quiet amid his son Brooklyn Beckham’s explosive statement accusing the retired soccer star and wife Victoria of controlling him for much of his life.
David, 50, was pictured at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, January 20, where he recorded a podcast with psychologist and author Adam Grant.
The sports star avoided questions about his son’s statement as he walked across the room at the annual conference.
Sky News business correspondent Paul Kelso attempted to ask him, “David, do you have a message for Brooklyn this morning?” per video footage published by the outlet.
David continued to walk on by and offered no answers as Kelso further pressed, “David, are you disappointed family business is being aired in public?”
The former Manchester United player’s appearance Tuesday comes less than 24 hours after eldest son Brooklyn, 26, broke his silence on his fractured relationship with David and Victoria, 51.
Rumors of a Beckham family rift first surfaced in May 2025, though insiders previously told Us Weekly that the disagreement can be traced back to Brooklyn’s April 2022 wedding to actress Nicola Peltz Beckham.
In a scathing statement posted via his Instagram Story on Monday, January 19, Brooklyn said, “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.”
Brooklyn alleged that “my parents and their team have continued to go to the press” with stories about him and his wife, “leaving me with no choice but to speak for myself and tell the truth about only some of the lies that have been printed.”
David Beckham leaves after a podcast during of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. AP Photo/Markus Schreiber
In his statement, Brooklyn accused his parents of crafting a curated image of their famous family in the press, which he described as deceptive. (Along with Brooklyn, David and Victoria share sons Romeo, 23, and Cruz, 20, and daughter Harper, 14.)
“The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into,” he wrote. “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.”
Brooklyn claimed that his parents “have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn’t stopped,” alleging that fashion designer Victoria “cancelled making Nicola’s [wedding] dress in the eleventh hour” before their nuptials.
Elsewhere in his statement, Brooklyn claimed that his parents “pressured” him into “signing away the rights to my name” and that Victoria called him “evil” for seating his paternal grandmother and Nicola’s grandmother at the top table at their wedding.
David Beckham, Victoria Beckham and Brooklyn Beckham. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
“Both of our parents had their own tables equally adjacent to ours,” Brooklyn wrote, adding, “The night before our wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was ‘not blood’ and ‘not family.’”
Brooklyn further alleged that Victoria “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, [singer] Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule [it] was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife, but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead,” he said. “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.”
Brooklyn said that “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.”
Us Weekly reached out to representatives for both David and Victoria Beckham for comment on Monday. Neither has publicly commented on their son’s claims.
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