Brooklyn Beckham’s former football coach has said he felt sadness at his ‘crackers’ life in the public eye and worried about the ‘shy and polite’ star.
The eldest Beckham son, 26, went nuclear on his family last week and said he doesn’t wish to reconcile with them.
In an explosive statement, Brooklyn took aim at parents Victoria and David Beckham as he said he is taking back control of the narrative, adding: ‘The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into.’
Now Brooklyn’s former footballer coach Anthony McCool, who coached Brooklyn during his time as a 14-year-old youth player at Queen’s Park Rangers, has shed light on younger Brooklyn in a new interview as part of ITV’s Beckham v Beckham: The Price Of Fame? programme on Thursday.
Anthony gave insight into Brooklyn’s gilded world as he said how he struggled to fit in due to being shy and was constantly flanked by security, even at training.
He revealed: ‘Brooklyn was just very quiet, didn’t really look you in the eye at first. That took quite some time, but very polite.
Brooklyn Beckham’s former football coach has said he felt sadness at his ‘crackers’ life in the public eye and worried about the ‘shy and polite’ star (Brooklyn seen in 2015)
Now Brooklyn’s former footballer coach Anthony McCool, who coached Brooklyn during his time as a 14-year-old youth player at Queen’s Park Rangers, has shed light on younger Brooklyn
‘He turned up without a drink. They’re supposed to bring their own drink. And I asked him where his drink was and he said, “I don’t know, they didn’t give me one.” This was then leapt on by this guy (security) near us: “Was there a problem?”
‘And this guy had someone shoot off and before we know it, he’s back and burst in the dressing room like Jason Bourne with an earpiece in, with a crate of Lucozade…and said, “You said that Brooklyn needed a drink.” And everyone laughed.’
Anthony shared how the situation affected Brooklyn, and admitted he used to think the youngster’s life was ‘crackers’.
‘But I kind of caught Brooklyn and looked at him and thought, “Wow, this life is crackers,” he probably thought everyone was laughing at him,’ Anthony added. ‘And that’s what made me quite sad.’
He continued: ‘He would worry me because we never saw any kind of either massively high emotion or massively low…. he was almost like he was in this daze… and I think he was embarrassed at times.’
However Anthony came to the defence of David and Victoria as he shared he felt they were stuck between a rock and a hard place with protecting him.
‘There’s nothing anyone could have done,’ he said. ‘And I think maybe his parents were trying to do the right thing, perhaps by stepping back a little bit to try and give him the space.
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The eldest Beckham son, 26, went nuclear on his family last week and said he doesn’t wish to reconcile with them (Brooklyn, Victoria and David seen in 2019)
‘The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into,’ Brooklyn said last week (Seen in 2006)
Anthony gave insight into Brooklyn’s gilded world as he said how he struggled to fit in due to being shy and was constantly flanked by security, even at training
The Daily Mail has contacted Brooklyn’s representatives for comment.
Elsewhere in the programme, Afton McKeith, who has claimed she had a fling with Brooklyn at school, has suggested his parents David and Victoria used to tip off the paparazzi on his whereabouts.
Wading in on the drama, Afton appeared to suggest that David and Victoria used to tell paparazzi where he was going to be so they would photograph him.
Afton went to sixth form with Brooklyn in 2017 and she says the pair had a brief romance.
Speaking to ITV News on Wednesday, Afton, the daughter of TV personality Gillian McKeith, said: ‘I could see that he would get visibly distressed and anxious.
‘I do know that there were paparazzi every single, like, pretty much every day. And somebody would’ve been organising that, who knew his schedule inside out because it’s not like random.’
When asked who she thought had been tipping off the paparazzi about Brooklyn’s movements, Afton replied: ‘I won’t say who I think it was, but I have an idea in my mind. I’m not going to implicate anybody.’
She was further probed, asking if she thought it was someone at school, to which she responded: ‘No, I don’t think it was anyone at school.
Last Monday Brooklyn made several claims about their behaviour at his wedding (Seen at his and Nicola Peltz’s vow renewal last year)
‘I think it was someone who knew his schedule from start to finish, of his day inside out, everywhere he went, what break he would’ve had. So, you can think about who that might be that would know that.’
When asked ‘Surely not his parents?’ Afton refused to comment further and shared a knowing look.
Afton also talked about his decision to speak out now. She said: ‘I think that Brooklyn made the right decision in coming out with a statement, because after many years, of what I think is a false narrative about Brooklyn and Nicola portrayed in the press publicly, it can become overwhelming and stressful to have an inaccurate narrative of yourself put out in the press constantly.
‘And so, it became too much for him. I think doing the best for your children is protecting your children.
‘And putting your children in the public eye is very exposing.’
The Daily Mail contacted representatives for Brooklyn and David and Victoria for comment.
