This week, Brooklyn Beckham dropped a bombshell on his family. Taking to Instagram, he finally put to rest rumours about a feud at the heart of the Beckham family – by proving they were true.
“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,” 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 façade. But I believe the truth always comes out.”
As the dust settles, Brand Beckham – that is, David, Victoria and their remaining children – will certainly be feeling the strain.
So far, they have refused to comment directly on the saga, though David did take to American channel CNBC for a Squawkbox interview a few hours after his son sent the internet nuclear.
“I have always spoken about social media and the power of social media... for the good and for the bad,” he said.
“'What kids can access these days, it can be dangerous. But what I have found personally, especially with my kids as well, use it for the right reasons. They make mistakes, but children are allowed to make mistakes. That is how they learn. That is what I try to teach my kids, you sometimes have to let them make those mistakes as well.”
Mistake or not, how should the Beckhams move forward?
Dan Wakeford, a celebrity expert and consultant with extensive experience running major entertainment brands in America, has covered Hollywood for three decades.
“At this stage, no one is emerging victorious in this PR battle; neither party comes out looking favorable. When a scandal like this unfolds, celebrities often engage crisis PR teams in addition to their regular publicists,” he told the Standard.
“Crisis management specialists employ various strategies, ranging from leaking negative stories about the opposing side to advising their clients to maintain silence, allowing the situation to deflate naturally as the news cycle shifts.”
What is needed here, he says, mirrors the resolution of any family dispute: “a period of time should be allowed for emotions to settle, enabling communication to occur privately. The challenge in this case is that one or more of the parties appear reluctant to pursue this path, there is also the heightened interest in every aspect of the Beckham family's situation, which makes this impossible to do behind the scenes unless the parties disengage from reading social media and the press. So what has happened is a relentless stream of negative stories.”
“Ultimately,” he concludes, “this is an exceedingly sad but relatable scenario, of a family torn apart.”
PR specialist Mark Borkowski believes a dignified silence is the best strategy. “There’s a lot more going on than we are actually reading, and it’s his [Brooklyn’s] reaction to that,” he tells the Standard.
“In terms of managing this, you've got to have a huge amount of empathy for the person who is obviously in pain. And you 100 per cent don’t get involved with a PR war. You stay silent. I notice they have. They're spending their time promoting Cruz’s gig at some club. It's all business as normal for them.
“You've got to take the heat out of the situation and find back channels to individuals, to do some sort of reaching out, but this is not the time and it’s difficult when millions of newspapers and websites and podcasts will be feeding off this.”
As for what they will do? “I think they'll try and put distance between it,” Borkowski says. “I think their first priority is to protect the other kids and to protect the brand and protect the ability for that brand to go on existing with all the sort of partnerships and relationships they have. They will not want to see negative PR, because that'll put people off.
“What they will do... they've got some very good people who give them advice and I think they'll be leaning on that advice. Unlike, you know, Meghan and Harry, they'll be listening to people. I think that's what they should do. [They should] find a way of actually being in rooms they're not in, with their narrative of what the truth of this is about, [as well as] recognising that they don't want to find a place where they never speak to their son again.”
