Inside ‘seething’ Victoria Beckham’s feud with daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz after row over wedding dress
ALONGSIDE her tub-thumping bandmates, Victoria Beckham has evoked the spirit of Girl Power for the last 25 years.
Unfortunately, her increasingly hostile feud with new daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz is anything but sisterly.
The pair’s relationship has reached a low point after the US actress accused Who Do You Think You Are singer Victoria, 48, of “ghosting” her, The Sun can reveal.
In a startling new interview, one dripping with thinly-veiled passive aggression, Nicola, 27, also suggests the designer reneged on a promise to create her wedding gown.
“Well, I was planning on wearing Victoria’s wedding dress,” she says, glibly.
“I was truly so excited to be able to wear a design that my future mother-in-law created.
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“We connected to start designing the dress, and then a few days went by and I didn’t hear anything. Victoria called my mom and said her atelier couldn’t make it.
“So I spoke to my mom and Leslie [her close friend and stylist Leslie Fremar], and I was like, ‘Well, unfortunately, this can’t happen, so what’s the next step?’.” Ouch.
But as a one-time pal of hers told me: “She can, well, be a bit of a cow when the mood strikes.”
Throwing her mother-in-law further under the bus, Nicola continued: “When I read things that say I was never planning on wearing a [Victoria Beckham] dress or things like that, it does hurt my feelings.”
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Naturally, after reading this latest slight in the American version of Grazia magazine, Victoria is said to be “utterly seething”.
The truth, insists a fashion insider, is that the pair did have discussions about a dress, but very early on Victoria realised it would be too much for her atelier — and politely explained she could not make it.
Valentino, which Nicola subsequently wore, was suggested “in plenty of time”.
David, the eternal voice of reason in the Beckham household, has been dutifully trying to pacify his wife.
But he, too, is deeply hurt by the increasing gulf in the couple’s relationship with their beloved son, whom they nickname “Buster”.
A source said: “Frankly, the most interesting thing about Nicola is that she married into the Beckham clan.
“David and Victoria have both reached out to her to try and make peace, and find a way to get along.
“There appears to be this baffling false narrative being peddled out by Nicola about this bloody dress.
“Victoria is bemused as to why she keeps stoking the rumours of a feud instead of shutting them down.
“All it would take is one Instagram ‘like’ — it’s PR route one.
“David and Victoria would love to spend more time with their son and his wife, and be given the opportunity to welcome her into the fold, especially given that Brooklyn practically lives with his parents-in-law.
“Brooklyn is a super-sweet kid but his relationship with his parents is changing.
"He used to speak and text with them daily, now it’s more like a weekly occurrence.
“The other problem is Nicola’s family, who are super tight-knit and pretty controlling.
"It was never exactly a meeting of minds between the Peltzes and Beckhams, and things have gotten worse of late.
“Nelson and Claudia, Nicola’s folks, have no time for the Beckhams’ celebrity lifestyle and, from the outside looking in, there appears to be a bit of inverted snobbery.
“It’s a very sad situation, but obviously Victoria and David will always be there for their son, and hope things calm down in time.
“Although, as things stand, it’ll be something of a Christmas miracle if things get resolved by the end of the year.”
Since Brooklyn, 23, an aspiring chef, tied the knot with Transformers actress Nicola in April, relations between the two families have taken a downturn.
According to reports, Victoria and Nicola have stopped liking or commenting on one another’s Instagram posts.
Which, for two women with a combined following of 33million (granted, VB boasts 30million of these), is telling.
They have not been seen out together since an evening in Italy in July, while Brooklyn and Nicola declined the Beckhams’ invititation to spend the summer on board their new £5million yacht.
Instead, the loved-up couple — who were teased during the wedding speeches about their gratuitous PDAs — opted to spend the holidays on the Peltz superyacht.
Hapless Brooklyn, who has 70 of his 100 tattoos dedicated to Nicola, is in an unfortunate position. (Well, as unfortunate as a good-looking, multi-millionaire, 20-something scion of a globally famous couple can be.)
But, like millions of men before him, he appears to be siding with his new bride, who previously dated pop star Justin Bieber, and her billionaire family.
The increasingly henpecked influencer chipped in to his wife’s cover interview, explaining: “My wife is obviously my first priority and I never want to see her upset ever.
“We have each other’s back 100 per cent and we just move on together.”
Words which must have cut Victoria and David to the core.
Last month Brooklyn and Nicola wore matching bubblegum pink outfits to attend the launch of the strawberry frosty by US fast-food retailer Wendy’s.
Nelson Peltz’s firm is the largest shareholder in the burger chain, which may account for Brooklyn’s sudden frosty enthusiasm.
“It all seems a bit undignified that uber-cool Brooklyn, who can earn hundreds of thousands per brand endorsement, happily posed with a frosted drink,” snipes one commentator.
“But what Nicola wants, Nicola gets and obviously Brooklyn is smitten.
“Nicola has quite a tricksy reputation. She is supposedly the ‘mean girl’ of Bella Thorne’s rant about an unpleasant female star.
“Of course, she’s a talented woman and it’s great that she’s ambitious and driven.
“But there’s a difference between drive and entitlement, and that’s something that, maybe, has been called into question.
“The Peltzes have a reputation for being protective, too, so it’s perhaps little wonder Brooklyn, a man utterly without guile, has been sucked in.”
Stunning Nicola has made no bones about who pulls the strings in their relationship.
She plumped for a matching Dior trouser suit on the night of her wedding which, according to Vogue, was “in case anyone wondered who wore the trousers in the relationship”.
I don’t think anyone’s been left in any doubt, Nicola.
The night itself did not exactly go according to plan.
It has since emerged that over the course of the three-day celebrations at the Peltzes’ sprawling £76million Florida estate, complete with roaming peacocks, Nicola burst into tears and, at one point, “stormed off”.
American singer Marc Anthony had been booked to perform for the newlyweds’ first dance, but ended up belting out You Sang To Me - and dedicating it to Victoria and Brooklyn.
As mother and son danced, slightly incongruously perhaps, Nicola was reportedly left in floods of tears at being gazumped at her own wedding party.
There was later a speech by the singer which was described as “totally just an ode to Victoria”.
To make matters worse, earlier in the day the rabbi had, twice, mistakenly called Brooklyn “David” as the couple exchanged vows.
To be fair, few can blame Nicola for being livid.
The quartet’s dynamic has plunged dramatically since Brooklyn and Nicola first got together at Coachella festival in 2017, and subsequently announced their engagement.
Nicola posed for pictures in a canary yellow Victoria Beckham dress and the designer duly penned a gushing welcome on Instagram, exclaiming: “The MOST exciting news!! We could not be happier. Wishing you so much love and a lifetime of happiness. We all love you both so much x.”
A source added: “Every family has its issues — and the Beckhams are no different.
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“Ultimately, they just want their son to be happy and will do everything in their power to make that happen, and get things back on track with his wife.
“Watch this space.”