Brooklyn Beckham getting attack dog lawyers to warn off his parents is final proof that he has become a fully paid-up Peltz, writes ALISON BOSHOFF

It was, on the surface, such a harmless action, just a mother ‘liking’ a video her eldest son had posted on social media.

Yet the ramifications of Victoria Beckham’s decision to signal her approval of a film Brooklyn had uploaded of himself cooking a chicken last month are still unfolding.

Because hours after this seemingly innocuous act, he blocked his mother, father and three siblings. And as I revealed in the Daily Mail yesterday, we now know it was because the fashion designer’s actions were in contravention of a legal request Brooklyn had issued his parents asking them to stop contacting him – and to stop interacting with him on social media.

In July last year, he instructed high-profile legal firm Schillings to fire off an official-sounding missive telling them to kindly ‘desist’ from their behaviour in attempting to be in touch. It was the culmination of a row that had been simmering since Brooklyn’s marriage to heiress and actress Nicola Peltz, 31, in 2022.

I heard about the legal letter from a well-placed source soon afterwards. But the story was denied all round, and it did seem just too unlikely to be true. But this week, in the wake of Brooklyn, 26, blocking his parents on Instagram, I started asking again – and the truth finally came out.

For those who know the Beckham family, the letter signalled a ghastly new low in the situation with Brooklyn, with Victoria in particular devastated about their estrangement. ‘The fact is that Victoria did send out a ‘like’. She misses him every hour of every day,’ a friend told me.

The source added: ‘Getting the lawyers involved only dials up the conflict and has meant that it has got out of control. This is horrible – they are a family. These are real people. It’s not a business dispute.’

Others say Brooklyn’s resort to lawyers is perhaps the clearest signal yet that he is now a Peltz, rather than a Beckham.

For the Beckhams have always taken a rather ‘softly softly’ approach to utilising lawyers. It is almost impossible to imagine them taking legal action of any sort against a member of their own family.

In contrast, observers point out that the billionaire Peltzes certainly have form when it comes to hiring lawyers to sort out their problems.

Remember that Nicola’s tycoon father Nelson sued two of the wedding planners hired to organise his youngest daughter’s nuptials after they said they could simply not cope with the happy couple’s 500-strong guest list.

Nicola, meanwhile, hired the formidable litigator Marty Singer to go after a dog groomer whom she claims was responsible for the sudden death of her pet chihuahua, Nala, in 2024. Singer, known as ‘Mad Dog’ for his unfettered aggression, is thought to charge more than $1,000 an hour – and given that her acting career is still in its infancy, you have to assume that her father is footing the bill.

The Beckhams’ friend adds, somewhat wearily, that trying to deal with family problems through lawyers is really not going to help, adding: ‘The legal letter is true, it was sent, and it is now all very complex between Brooklyn and his family. The Beckhams did send a letter back.

‘They have tried for a long time to get in touch and have been begging him in texts to talk to them. That is all they want – to sit down and have a chance to reconcile. They always write to them both.’

The origins of the falling out are well documented. There was a row over Nicola’s wedding dress, and whether Victoria had pulled out of designing it or been passed over, plus allegations she hijacked a dance at the wedding.

But at the heart of the problem is Brooklyn’s belief that his family have been nasty to the woman he loves. His camp say the Beckhams’ social media activity feels performative and gaslighting.

They say they have ignored his previous attempts to make up with them in private, instead insisting that he must attend high profile events such as his father’s 50th birthday party in London.

The explanation for the social media blocking is that their attempts at contact, when they have been asked not to, are ‘anxiety inducing’ for the couple. So why are his siblings also cast out?

Younger brothers Cruz and Romeo, to be fair, initially unfollowed Brooklyn – a softer option compared to the brutal block – and there were some posts on social media last year apparently referencing Brooklyn, talking about ‘Stockholm syndrome’, calling him a ‘d***’ and saying ‘u r dead to me’. Naturally, his brothers are upset by their parents’ heartbreak. And yet 14-year-old Harper, to whom Brooklyn and Nicola were once so close, also has no contact from him. He wished her a happy birthday in July on Instagram, but there was no personal contact.

The exceptions are Brooklyn’s grandparents on both sides, with whom he is in touch. Ted and Sandra Beckham and Jackie and Tony Adams have had occasional texts over the past two years.

But they haven’t actually seen him since Brooklyn and Nicola attended Victoria’s fashion show in Paris back in September 2024 – despite both sets of grandparents having been in the US and Brooklyn visiting the UK on a number of occasions.

They were close to Brooklyn – who is currently trying to make his way as a chef and hot sauce entrepreneur – when he was growing up and his parents were both forging their careers.

I hear that David and Victoria are delighted that Brooklyn is at least in touch in some way with his grandparents and they have always been aware of it.

I also hear that all the Beckhams’ famous friends – such as Elton John and Gordon Ramsay and his family – as well as the rest of the team who have known them for years, have tried to find a resolution. But to no avail.

In the end, neither side thinks they are at fault. The Beckhams believe that they have done nothing wrong. The Peltz-Beckham side believe that they have been ostracised and briefed against.

The Peltz-Beckham view is that an apology to both Nicola and Brooklyn would be a good starting point, while the Beckhams just want to talk and say that

Victoria in particular has also been briefed against.

Ultimately, it’s easy to view this as a story of petty slights, snubs and misunderstandings between two high-profile, powerful families, with both sides believing that the other is jealous of them, over either their money or their global popularity.

It’s easy to forget the human cost at the heart of the falling out, and it’s hard to know when and how might it end.

Hearing from both camps – as I have done – for the past few years, leaves you wondering if this entire bunch of wealthy, privileged people have simply taken leave of their senses.

A wise observer close to the fall-out said to me yesterday that one person – Nicola – could end it all in a minute if she would just tell her devoted husband that the time had come to draw a line and make up with his family.

But for now, there is a not even a faint hope of that.