Growing up with a billionaire father whose financial swagger is legendary, Nicola Peltz must have long assumed that any problem can be solved by money.
The deep pockets of Nelson Peltz means that the feared and revered fast-food mogul tends to get his own way. Take his daughter’s £3million Palm Beach wedding to Brooklyn Beckham in May 2022. On her daddy’s dime, Nicola famously burned through three wedding planners, the second of which is currently being sued by Nelson.
Yet as the narrative of her fallout with the Beckhams spirals out of her control, she may have come to finally realise – at the age of 30 – that cash isn’t always the answer.
Over the past few weeks I have revealed the full story of the rift that has ripped the once-close Beckham family apart, exposing Nicola’s selfishness and her control of her husband, a rift that no amount of money can heal. Now Nicola, who I am told is ‘furious’, has resorted to pressing the Generation Z nuclear button: she’s blocked me on Instagram. And so has Brooklyn.
While I have never ‘followed’ Nicola on the app, I have watched her husband’s account since he joined around a decade ago. But when I searched for a picture of Nicola and Brooklyn on Instagram on Sunday, I noticed that I couldn’t find her account, an indication that she had sought out my profile especially to block me. I then tried to find Brooklyn and he had disappeared too, so I can no longer see their posts or live Instagram ‘stories’.
It all seems rather petty, but I’m told by my younger colleagues that it is Gen Z’s way of saying ‘f*** you’ – even if others deem it a ‘coward move’.
Weaponising Instagram is part of the pair’s playbook, as seen in recent weeks when Brooklyn failed to wish his father happy 50th birthday on the platform. Perhaps it’s the only way they know to convey their anger.
But it betrays a thin skin and, as sources are telling me, it suggests that the Peltzes are doubling down, believing that blame for the rift lies with Victoria and David. That is why I fear that there will never be a reconciliation between the two sides.
Both Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz have blocked Katie Hind on Instagram – a huge ‘f*** you’ in Gen Z terms
‘Nicola hates criticism,’ said one source who knows her. ‘She hates anyone telling her she is wrong or that her “truth” is wrong. She wants her own way, she wants to control a situation and if she can’t then she lashes out in some way to get her point across.
‘She won’t back down, she won’t admit she is wrong, ever. And that is why she won’t ever concede to the Beckhams – and therefore this fallout is for the foreseeable future.’
It is easy to see why Nicola, who is widely regarded as a ‘spoilt brat’, is cross with me.
I have revealed that she was behind Brooklyn’s no-shows at any of the five celebrations to mark his once-beloved father’s milestone birthday, despite the couple travelling from their Los Angeles home to London.
Brooklyn had every intention of attending – he’d told his parents so – but sources close to the situation say that he didn’t because of Nicola. Her form is to ignite an argument with the in-laws and then press Brooklyn to take her side. He then feels unable to speak to his parents, still less to go to any family events.
Only, that version of events didn’t suit Nicola’s narrative. For weeks, she has been pushing the line that the source of the rift is Kim Turnbull, the girlfriend of Brooklyn’s brother Romeo.
In the days after Brooklyn and Nicola failed to turn up to David’s birthday party at Cipriani restaurant in Miami, last month, a story appeared on celebrity news site TMZ, which told how the brothers had fallen out over Kim (who used to date Brooklyn’s friend Rocco Ritchie, son of Madonna and Guy Ritchie). Brooklyn and Nicola were not ‘comfortable’ in her company.
I’m also told that Nicola also doesn’t talk to Romeo’s previous girlfriend Mia Regan, although she attended the Peltz-Beckham wedding nonetheless.
For weeks, Nicola has been pushing the line that the source of the rift is Kim Turnbull, the girlfriend of Brooklyn’s brother Romeo
Yet, their bluff was called when David organised a ‘boys’ fishing trip’ earlier this month, which, despite the absence of Kim, Brooklyn failed to attend. Nor was Kim at the big family bash at the Beckhams’ £10million Cotswolds home because she was working at an Adidas event.
‘Nicola is talking rubbish and it is hurtful for Kim but she hoped nobody would mention that, she thought she was being really clever,’ one source tells me.
‘Basically, she wants her narrative out there and she isn’t prepared to compromise. She grew up thinking that she was never in the wrong. Her dad wanted a quiet life so would throw money at a problem to make it go away, so she basically thought she could do what she likes.
‘You look at the wedding, it was a Peltz production, she got what she wanted and so did Nelson. You wonder if Nicola has learned that if you throw your weight around enough then you get your own way.
‘But this time Nicola has gone up against one of the most powerful brands in the world and she doesn’t like being on the backfoot.’
Indeed, I wonder whether Brooklyn took his own decision to block me or whether he was influenced by Nicola. After all, those who know the Peltzes say that Nelson does whatever his wife, Nicola’s mum, Claudia tells him to do.
‘Nelson is a ferocious businessman but Claudia wears the trousers at home,’ says my source. ‘It’s all rather bizarre given how powerful he is at work.’
Of course, that won’t be lost on the Beckhams, who believe that when Nicola says ‘jump,’ Brooklyn asks, ‘how high?’
‘Brooklyn is besotted with Nicola,’ says a source. ‘And she has managed to make him believe that it is his parents who are at fault here, that they are the bad guys in all of this and if anyone dares say otherwise then they are done.’
And that, it appears, applies to me too.
