David And Victoria Beckham's Son Brooklyn Is All Grown Up

Brooklyn Beckham has been famous since before he was born. His parents, after all, are David and Victoria Beckham; one of the most famous couples in the world, thanks to David's soccer stardom and Victoria's past as one of the Spice Girls. Brooklyn was born a few months before their 1999 wedding, a star-studded event that caused a history-making media sensation at the time. The tiny tot even served as his parents' ring bearer. In other words, he's grown up in front of the cameras, and it's only natural that he should seek to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry, just like his parents.

These days, though, Brooklyn — who has three siblings — is still trying to find his place. He's become an expert at generating headlines on his own, thanks to a string of high-profile relationships, and he's bounced around from possible career to possible career. "It's OK to be 25, 26, or even 30 and not know what you're doing yet," he told Bustle in 2022. "You know what I mean?"

Whether he ends up becoming a chef, a photographer, a model, an influencer, or some combination of all of the above (or none of them), one thing's for sure: Brooklyn Beckham is all grown up.

Many famous children of famous people follow in their famous parents' famous footsteps. That was the expectation for a young Brooklyn Beckham, who seemed like he was on a path to becoming a soccer star just like his father. He joined Arsenal's youth academy, playing on their younger team in an effort to secure a scholarship to continue in the sport. Unfortunately, though, despite his superstar dad, Beckham was cut from the team. 

It seems that this was actually okay with Beckham, though it made his father sad. In an interview with "Good Morning America" (via USA Today), David Beckham revealed that they'd had an emotional conversation about his son's soccer ambitions. "It broke my heart a little bit," he said. "He said, 'Every time that I step onto the field, I know people are saying, you know, "This is David Beckham's son," and if I'm not as good as you, then it's not good enough.'"

This early career frustration would follow Brooklyn for the next decade, leading him to spend a lot of time figuring out where he fit in if he wasn't meant for the soccer field. "I have a lot of anxiety," he reflected to Bustle in 2022. "And to try and live up to what my dad did ... I really just want to make my own name for myself and work my arse off."

David and Victoria Beckham are two of the most famous people in the world, so it would have been easy enough for them to position their son Brooklyn for success by giving him all the money in the world. Instead, though, they decided to teach him the value of hard work. "We try to lead by example, by showing them it's important to work hard," David told HuffPostUK. "We juggle everything around the family because our main priority is the children, simple as that, and it always will be, but being hardworking is the best thing you can show children."

To that end, Brooklyn got a job at a London coffee shop when he was 15. The Daily Mail reported that they had spoken with someone on staff, though they didn't reveal the exact location of the shop where Brooklyn was apparently slinging java. The teen was said to have "got on okay" with his co-workers, and the outlet reported that for all his labor, he was paid a mere £2.68 per hour. It's unclear how long Brooklyn stuck it out at the coffee shop, and he quickly moved on to attempt numerous other careers.

Brooklyn Beckham's undisclosed amount of time working at a coffee shop seems to have been good enough for his parents; over the following decade, he pursued a string of passion projects. He began his modeling career in 2014, at only 15 years old, when he appeared on the cover of Man About Town. Ben Reardon, the magazine's editor-in-chief, spoke with People about Beckham's photo shoot with photographer Alasdair McLellan. "It is clear that he is becoming a credit to the family name, not only possibly the most famous in the world but one with a wealth of heavyweight fashion influence behind it," Reardon said.

The following year, Beckham gave his first-ever interview in an issue of British Vogue. He revealed that he takes style advice from both of his parents, but somewhat surprisingly, he prefers his dad's take. "My mum knows a lot about fashion, but obviously I listen to my dad as he has great style and we share clothes," he said.

By 2016, Beckham was attending New York Fashion Week events with his parents. In 2023, he was still modeling, and he spoke with BuzzFeed News about why people tend to question his endless string of career moves. "I think most people out there think that I'm not nice? And I don't really know why," he mused. "I'm able to rise above it a little bit ... I do see that kind of stuff, but it doesn't really bother me."

When he was a teenager, Brooklyn Beckham decided photography was going to be his thing. In 2016, he released a book of photography called "What I See," featuring various snapshots taken throughout his life. "I've kind of been into it my whole life," Beckham told W Magazine. "I kind of always wanted to know how a camera worked. But I hadn't really thought about it doing it professionally, or really been actually trying to study it — and felt the way I do about it now — until now." Penguin approached him about doing the book on the strength of his black and white Instagram posts, which gave him the confidence to pursue it more.

Unfortunately for Beckham's future ambitions in the field, his book was widely criticized, not least because he seemed to display no discernible artistic eye. One representative photograph that was mocked online shows an elephant in shadow. "so hard to photograph but incredible to see," Beckham captioned the picture (via X, formerly Twitter). He addressed the nepotism accusations in W Magazine, reasoning, "[P]eople thought that [I've gotten this] because of my parents — and part of it maybe, yeah, of course, it does help, but I'm just trying to make my own way."

The backlash grew so loud, in fact, that Penguin Random House managing director Francesca Dow spoke up in Beckham's defense. As she told the BBC, "'What I See' is a book for teenagers, by a teenager." Fair enough!

In addition to his various career pursuits, Brooklyn Beckham has made a name for himself as a tabloid fixture. He dated fellow teen star Chloë Grace Moretz for several years, frequently making headlines whenever he stepped out with his older girlfriend. In 2014, Moretz revealed to Metro that she got to know the Beckham in Los Angeles. "We met at SoulCycle in LA. We SoulCycle together," she said, adding, "The Beckhams are a really sweet family." But their relationship was a somewhat rocky one, with frequent breakups and makeups hitting the press. "I think we chose each other," Moretz told Us Weekly in 2017, after several years of dating. "It's been years now off and on and it's just one of those things, you come back and it's like no time spent away from each other at all."

In 2018, the relationship seemed to have finally ended for good. That April, Elle reported that photographers captured Beckham kissing Playboy model Lexi Wood at a tattoo parlor, leading to days of shady Instagram interactions between Beckham, Moretz, and various fan accounts. Moretz finally addressed things in an interview with The Sunday Times. Rather, she refused to address things. "I want nothing to be said," Moretz said. So be it!

It seems that Brooklyn Beckham has a type: actors who are a few years older than him. After he broke up with Chloë Grace Moretz, Beckham moved on with "Transformers: Age of Extinction" star Nicola Peltz, one of Selena Gomez's best friends. In January 2020, Peltz posted a picture on Instagram showing off her new, shirtless boyfriend. The following month, they made their red carpet debut at Paris Fashion Week. By March 2020, Vogue was writing articles about the pretty pair, calling the duo "fashion's favorite new couple."

Then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. They quarantined together, posting some loved-up snaps from their bed, complete with a dog. "It's the best feeling to have animals around you during this scary time," Peltz wrote (via Daily Mail). Things got quite serious between the two of them while the world was in lockdown. When things opened back up, they attended The Met Gala together several years in a row, and a mere two years after going Instagram official with their budding romance, Peltz and Beckham married in April 2022. "My dad was just always [like] look, 'Just always treat her like a princess,'" Beckham told Us Weekly after their nuptials. It's not bad advice; after all, David and Victoria Beckham have been together for over 25 years.

The Beckham-Peltz wedding was a star-studded affair, according to People, though notably, Prince William and Princess Catherine declined their invitation. Celebs such as Gordon Ramsay, Eva Longoria, Jordana Brewster, and the Williams sisters showed up to celebrate the happy couple, and Victoria Beckham wore jewelry with a hidden meaning. The ceremony even featured performances by Marc Anthony and David Blaine. "I am the luckiest man in the world. I promise to be the best husband," Beckham said in the Instagram post. 

Though the ceremony seems to have been a happy one, drama soon erupted. The Peltz family sued two wedding planners who were involved in the wedding but got fired. Peltz's father Nelson is a billionaire, but he sought the return of a $159,000 deposit, leading to a back and forth legal drama that stretched on for years. "The celebrity of the wedding couple combined with the anticipated attendance of many high-profile guests required that the wedding planner have the expertise and staffing to plan, coordinate, and execute a wedding event of the expected caliber and complexity," said a Peltz family lawyer (via People).

The lawsuits were settled in September 2023, when People reported on a joint statement, "As part of the settlement, [Plan Design Events] will make a donation in the name of Nicola and Brooklyn to the CARE Ukraine Crisis Fund," they wrote. "PDE wishes Nicola and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham happiness and a fruitful life together."

It's no secret that David Beckham loves tattoos. While filming his Netflix documentary, the soccer star told director Fisher Stevens that he wasn't even sure how many he's gotten over the years. "He said, 'I just like them,'" Stevens recalled in a scene cut from the show (via People). "I go, 'Is there some form of self-torture?' And he said, 'No, I don't think so.'"

Considering that pedigree, it's no surprise that Brooklyn Beckham loves tats, too. In an interview on "The Late Late Show With James Corden," David revealed that he'd made the youngster promise to bring him along the first time he got inked. While Brooklyn was in Paris a few days before his 18th birthday, David got a tip that his son might be in a tattoo parlor. They FaceTimed, and he reminded his son of their arrangement. "[Y]ou promised me, and I'm your dad, and I would feel really upset if you actually went through with it," David recalled saying. Brooklyn decided to wait, and he got his first tattoo with David soon after.

That was only the beginning. In 2023, the Daily Mail reported that Brooklyn had racked up over 100 tattoos, many of which are tributes to his wife Nicola Peltz. In fact, he now has his wedding vows tattooed on his arm. "Nicola when you walked down the aisle you took my breath away you look so beautiful tonight and always," the tattoo says.

In 2021, Brooklyn Beckham began posting videos online of himself in the kitchen, cooking up various dishes for the benefit of his millions of followers. Actually, the real beneficiary might be his wife Nicola Peltz, who gets to eat his concoctions. She told Tatler that she was the one who encouraged Beckham to share his love of cooking online, insisting, "Ever since the pandemic, all he's wanted to talk about is being in the kitchen, so I just started filming him one day. I said, 'This is what you love.'" Various family members jumped in the comments section of his videos, including mom Victoria, who wrote (via People), Wow!! Looks amazing!!!!! X"" on a video of him whipping up a steak quesadilla.

Those cooking videos led to a Facebook Watch show, fittingly called "Cookin' With Brooklyn." After fans criticized Beckham once again for hopping around to yet another new interest, he defended himself in his interview with Bustle. "I'm not a professional chef — at all," he insisted. "I've never said that. I never would say that."

He also told Business Insider that the criticism didn't really bother him, all things considered. "Cooking makes me happy," he reasoned. "I have more important things to worry about than people saying a little bit of rubbish about me." In 2024, he launched a two-night pop-up restaurant in partnership with Uber Eats. According to The Standard, Uber Eats revealed that he'd been "compensated for his time."

Brooklyn Beckham may have attracted some criticism for bouncing around from career to career, but he's been willing to put his family money where his mouth is, too. Beckham supports a number of charitable causes, most prominently those that focus on combating climate change. In 2019, he revealed on Instagram that he'd worked as a cameraman behind the scenes of "One Planet," a Netflix show about appreciating the environment. "I had an incredible time hanging out with the film crew and [World Wildlife Federation] team gaining a unique insight into our planet's wildlife and why it's so important that we protect them," he wrote.

While speaking with British GQ in early 2021, the famous scion revealed that he was working with Pepe Jeans on a collaboration meant to educate people about just how much water creating denim clothing uses. "Once you become aware of what is going on in the world and the environment, I think you realize that we can each do something towards sustainability. Every drop will fill a glass and so each gesture counts," he said. While that may have been a slightly confusing metaphor, his heart seemed to be in the right place.

In late 2021, the brand Superdry announced a partnership with Brooklyn Beckham amid a shift in their brand strategy to focus more on eco-friendly fashion. In a press release, Beckham mused, "Sustainability has always been an important cause for me so partnering with Superdry was an easy decision." CEO Julian Dunkerton added, "To have the endorsement of Brooklyn is a testament to what we're doing as a brand." The Sun reported that the brand deal made the Beckham air a staggering £1 million to be the brand's new face.

The partnership quickly led to controversy. In early 2022, Beckham posted a photo on Instagram (via Mirror) showing himself wearing vegan sneakers made by the brand. The move coincided with his new cooking rebrand, leaving his followers to question why a man who loves eating meat would bother promoting vegan shoes. "Babe you literally cook steak all the time make it make sense," one person commented.

That July, a Superdry spokesperson spoke with the Daily Mail and revealed that they would no longer be using Beckham as the face of their sustainable fashion. "We always review the ambassadors who feature in our campaigns and decided to work with a different range of talent," the spokesperson said. Ouch.

It doesn't feel like all that long ago that Victoria and David Beckham were pushing little Brooklyn in a stroller, but he's now a married man, and he's looking forward to expanding his own family. When he was featured in the 2022 edition of People's Sexiest Man Alive issue, Brooklyn pointed out that his father was only 23 when he was born. "I could have had kids yesterday," he said. "Obviously, it's my wife's body, but I've always wanted to have a bunch of kids around. That's something I really want to do."

Nicola Peltz confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that the couple plans on having a huge family someday. "We want to have some of our own kids and then we really want to adopt kids too," she said, noting that she has seven siblings. "[H]e loves being with my family and just being around so many boys," she added. "I think he has, like, built-in boy best friends now, so I think he really loves that."