Brooklyn Beckham family rift becomes West End punchline in Titanique musical

The Beckham family dispute has now found its way onto the West End.

Titanique, the Olivier Award-winning comedy musical currently playing at London’s Criterion Theatre, commemorated its first anniversary with a gala performance that folded in the latest episode of Beckham family discord.

In an explosive post this week, Brooklyn Beckham, 26, shared his side of the story regarding his long-rumoured feud with his family.

In it, he alleged that his parents, David and Victoria, “have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship” with actor and heiress Nicola Peltz.

The oldest Beckham son claimed that his mother “hijacked my first dance with my wife” at their 2022 wedding in Palm Beach, stating the former Spice Girl “danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone”.

Throughout the gala performance on Tuesday (20 January), Titanique cast members made knowing references to the row, including jokes alluding to Victoria’s alleged dancing.

One of the biggest laughs reportedly came courtesy of Victoria’s 2001 solo single “Not Such an Innocent Girl”, which was deployed in the musical to comic effect.

The jukebox musical features Celine Dion hits such as “My Heart Will Go On” and “All By Myself” and is told from the perspective of the singer, who claims she survived the Titanic sinking and hijacks a museum tour to tell her version of events.

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This week’s anniversary performance was attended by Denise van Outen, Dame Kelly Holmes, Dame Arlene Phillips, Vanessa Feltz, Tom Fletcher, and the actor Chris O’Dowd and his wife Dawn.

Beckham is the eldest of the Beckham’s four children. His statement accused his parents of placing “countless lies in the media, mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their facade”.

“I do not want to reconcile with my family," he wrote. “I’m not being controlled [by my wife], I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life.”

Without giving specifics he also wrote that before the wedding his parents “repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name”.

The statement came amid rumours of an ongoing feud between Brooklyn and the rest of his family. In December, younger brother Cruz said that Brooklyn had blocked family members on social media.

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David and Victoria Beckham did not have an immediate public response to the posts, and messages to representatives from The Associated Press were not immediately answered.

In a Tuesday (20 January) appearance on CNBC, David Beckham, who is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, did not directly address his son's statements, but said that children make mistakes on social media, and should be allowed to.

“That’s what I try to teach my kids. But you know, you have to sometimes let them make those mistakes as well,” he said.

Married since 1999, David and Victoria Beckham have three other children, 23-year-old Romeo, 20-year-old Cruz and 14-year-old Harper.