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The ex-girlfriend of Brooklyn Beckham, has spoken about the pressures she recalls the eldest Beckham son being under in the wake of his explosive statement about his estrangement from his family. ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar reports.
A former college girlfriend of Brooklyn Beckham has told ITV Tonight she was “not surprised” when he posted his incendiary statement last week.
Afton McKeith, daughter of the TV personality Gillian McKeith, claims Brooklyn’s parents David and Victoria did not do enough “to protect him from the public eye”.
She recounted how, as a teenager, the pressure of ‘Brand Beckham’ could make him visibly distressed and anxious at times.
She added she believed Brooklyn had made the “right decision” in posting publicly about the breakdown in the relationship with his parents, David and Victoria, who have yet to comment on the situation.
Victoria and David Beckham have not responded publicly to the claims.
Afton 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 have been organising that who knew his schedule inside out. Because it’s not, like, random, you know.
“I won’t say who I think it was, but I have an idea in my mind. I don’t think it was anyone at school.
“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 have had. So you can think about who that might be that would know that.”
ITV News approached both parties’ representatives for comment, but neither have responded.
Brooklyn Beckham launched a lengthy attack on both his parents in a post on Instagram where he rebukes their behaviour and attitude towards his wife, going as far as to claim he does not want to reconcile with them.
Brooklyn, 26, is the eldest son of Sir David and Victoria Beckham, and stories of a breakdown in relations with his parents have been swirling in the media for months.
Family members have reportedly blocked each other on social media, and Brooklyn did not attend his father’s 50th birthday party.
Stories of the rift began circulating in the run-up to Brooklyn’s marriage to his now-wife Nicola Peltz.
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Afton 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.”
You can watch the Tonight programme ‘Beckham v Beckham: The Price of Fame?’ on Thursday at 7.30pm on ITV1 and at 10.45pm on STV.
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