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David Beckham Had 5-Year Feud With Father Over Man Utd Exit
The family feud involving David Beckham and his son Brooklyn has been described as “history repeating itself”. An insider compared their ongoing issues to the fallout between the former Manchester United footballer and his father, Ted, back in the 2000s.
Brooklyn Beckham has cut ties with his family after accusing his parents of controlling behaviour and interfering in his relationship with his wife. He has blocked and unfollowed several family members on social media and dropped an explosive statement about the situation earlier this week.
This wouldn’t be the first time David Beckham has been involved in a family bust-up, having fallen out with his father back in 2003. His five-year spat with his dad, Ted, nearly ended their relationship permanently.
David Beckham and His Father’s Five-Year Fallout
A feud between David and Ted Beckham played out in public when the former England captain made the move from United to Real Madrid. He left Old Trafford and the Estadio Bernabeu without his father knowing, and they were already not seeing eye to eye after the break-up of Ted’s 33-year marriage to the footballer’s mother, Sandra, a year before.
When touching on the current rift between David and Brooklyn, an insider told The Sun: “History may be repeating itself. David Beckham famously fell out with his own father when he was younger, and reconciliation eventually came. I suspect David and Victoria are hoping for the same outcome here, but at the moment, that doesn’t appear to be on the horizon.”
Ted vowed to “never forgive” his son during their bitter quarrel, and this was alluded to: “It’s a sad reminder of how Ted must have felt when he grew apart from David all those years ago.”
The 78-year-old’s children blamed him for his marriage breakdown, and this led to years of no contact with David when he continued his career out in Madrid. He recalled this after he was banned from seeing the England hero sign for the Spanish giants:
“I don’t know if I can repair my relationship with him. We’ve hardly spoken. My biggest upset was not being invited to his signing. I’m choked, really. I’ve been there since day one and that really upset me. I’ll never forgive him for that.”
Their relationship further worsened after Ted released a biography titled ‘David Beckham: My Son’ three years later. He hadn’t consulted his son before the book’s release and admitted in it that the pair had “drifted apart.”
David himself had penned an autobiography back in 2001, ‘Beckham: My World’, and accused Ted of a lack of tenderness shown towards his wife, Sandra. He wrote:
“He loves my mum but he’s never been affectionate to her in front of my two sisters and me. He’s quite hard-faced and can be sarcastic. He also gets fired up easily… The quality I like least in myself is my short temper. I think I get it from my dad.”
Their issues continued during the 2006 World Cup when David sent Ted tickets but chose not to meet up with him. That was until a year later, when at 58, his father suffered a near-fatal heart attack and was told he “died” in the ambulance to the hospital.
Once David was informed, he flew from the United States, where he was starting his LA Galaxy career, and spent hours by his father’s bedside. They made amends following the incident, and the Inter Miami co-owner paid off Ted’s mortgage and bought him a Jaguar.
Insider Claims David Fears He’s ‘Lost’ Brooklyn
The insider went on to explain how David and the rest of the Beckham family feel at odds with Brooklyn. They “genuinely fear” he could be lost to them “forever.”
It’s noted that “lost” is poignant because it was the same sentiment used during David’s falling-out with his father. They added: “Ted believed his son would never speak to him again, and he was heartbroken. It was an extremely tense few years, and devastated the whole family.”
Brooklyn claimed in his statement that he did not want to reconcile with his family and that he was “standing up for myself for the first time in my life.” His dad, David, refused to answer questions about their relationship when appearing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old is the eldest son of David and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and has been married to Nicola Peltz since 2022. He suggested that his parents had made his wife feel uncomfortable during their wedding including Victoria taking his first dance after tying the knot.
