With a skin so thick that she responds to failure like a ‘robot’, a doting billionaire father and six brothers who instilled in her from an early age that she’s ‘amazing’ and should never settle, Nicola Peltz is no doubt a formidable opponent in any argument.
And no doubt there have been plenty of difficult conversations behind closed doors in recent weeks amid a rumoured feud between Nicola and her husband Brooklyn Beckham and his family, after the couple missed multiple celebrations for David’s 50th.
Rather than point the finger of blame at their son, 26, Victoria and David are understood to be concerned about the influence Nicola, the 30-year-old daughter of American billionaire Nelson Peltz and model Claudia Heffner Peltz, has over him.
Tellingly, while speaking to Tatler in 2022, the aspiring actress revealed how she’d developed a steely self-confidence thanks to growing up with six brothers.
The billionaire heiress, whose father is one of Disney’s biggest investors and former chair of the Wendy’s fast food chain, also spoke about her reluctance to move to the UK due to how close she is to her own clan. Indeed, she has a tattoo in Yiddish saying ‘family first’ on her ribcage.
Nicola’s brothers include eldest Matthew, 37, a businessman; Will, 36, an actor-model; Brad, 32, a former ice hockey player; Darren (known as Diesel), 27, a tech entrepreneur; and twins Zachary and Gregory, 18. She also has a 31-year-old sister called Brittany, who is a children’s clothes designer.
The Beckhams have seen rumours swirl in recent weeks about a feud which has pitted eldest son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz on one side, and the rest of the family on the other
Brooklyn, 26, and aspiring actress Nicola, 30, have been notably absent from celebrations for his footballer dad David’s 50th birthday
‘I think growing up with brothers made me really confident in who I am,’ she told Tatler in 2022. ‘I never feel like I need approval from a guy – my brothers have nailed that into me.’
The following year, she spoke to Cosmopolitan UK about her brothers as she confessed: ‘I think growing up with six brothers, they’ve drilled into my brain, “You’re amazing, you’re amazing”, especially with relationships.
‘I’ve only had three boyfriends because I’ve always been standoffish until I really like someone.
‘My brothers were always like, “No, you deserve better, you deserve better, you deserve better,” – so I think in that way, I’m confident.’
That confidence has been much needed while she’s tried to pursue a career as an actress, admitting that from a young age she’s ‘put up a wall to failure’ and is like a ‘robot’ when it comes to rejection after being told no ‘a million and one times’.
Nicola made her acting debut at age 11, when she landed a tiny role as a side character in the holiday flick Deck the Halls, which went on to receive scathing reviews.
Victoria and David are understood to be concerned about the influence Nicola, the daughter of American billionaire Nelson Peltz (Pictured together), has over him
After that, she landed more small parts in a slew of straight-to-DVD movies or flicks that were slammed by reviewers.
Arguably her two biggest roles were in Nickelodeon’s live-action Avatar movie The Last Airbender – she played the Waterbender Katara – and the fourth instalment in the Transformers series – she was the daughter of the main character.
Last year she released the film Lola, in which she acted, starred and directed, but it was promptly torn to shreds by unimpressed critics – with scathing reviews dismissing it as ‘poverty porn’ and an exploitative ‘vanity project’.
Despite this, it’s unlikely Nicola will be backing down from her acting career, citing her father Nelson, 82, as her inspiration.
She told Tatler: ‘My dad always says, “I don’t care what you do in life, as long as you are fully committed and you work”.’
Meanwhile, her husband’s family, the Beckhams, are also famous for their тιԍнт knit bond, constantly holding intimate-yet-glamorous gatherings and parties and regularly gushing about each other over social media.
Billionaire heiress Nicola has previously shared her reluctance to move to the UK and gushed over how close she is to her own family, crediting her six brothers for her ‘confidence’ (Peltz family pictured)
Nicola idolises her investment тιтan father Nelson, 82, and also told Tatler: ‘My dad always says, “I don’t care what you do in life, as long as you are fully committed and you work”‘
The Beckhams appear to spend almost all of their time, which they split between their homes in the UK and Miami, together – although Brooklyn’s presence has grown less and less frequent since his marriage to Nicola.
‘Victoria and David would do anything to get their son back, but they are done with Nicola now,’ a family friend has told the Mail.
The married couple live in Los Angeles, and when asked by Tatler following their wedding if she would ever move to the UK to be near Brooklyn’s family, Nicola didn’t seem keen.
‘I would say no, but you never know,’ she said. ‘Just because I love knowing I am so close to my family.’
She also put her own family front and centre in an emotional Instagram post after missing the Beckham birthday celebrations at the weekend.
While failing to publicly wish her father-in-law a happy birthday, she focused instead on her late grandmothers Bunny who pᴀssed away in May 2024 at the age of 95, and Gina who died in January 2020.
While she didn’t publicly wish her father-in-law a happy 50th birthday, Nicola instead shared memories of her two late grandmothers
Nicola Peltz shared an emotional post about ‘core family memories’ after missing David Beckham’s 50th celebrations over the weekend
As she shared snaps with them both, she wrote the caption: ‘In life we have core memories and this is one of my most favorite days I’ve ever lived.
‘They were my best friends, there wasn’t a day I wasn’t with them. to my naunni and my gina i can’t fathom the thought of not being able to hug you or hear your laugh right now – i just miss you both so much.’
The current rumoured rift is not the first time that Nicola and Brooklyn have been at loggerheads with the Beckhams.
Spice Girl Victoria and England ace David worked hard to rebuild relations with their daughter-in-law following a feud that emerged between the two women in the lead-up to her wedding in 2022.
Whispers of ructions launched when it was claimed that Nicola refused to wear one of Victoria’s eponymous designs – instead opting for various designs from Valentino, Christian Dior and Versace.
As the wedding plans were underway, insiders alleged Victoria was displeased with Nicola’s reluctance to involve her in the plans for the lavish affair.
It was claimed the Beckhams took a backseat on the big day – leading to yet more fury from Victoria, with a source telling Daily Mail: ‘The top table was all Peltzs and it really felt as though the Beckhams were not at the forefront…
Her husband’s family, the Beckhams, are famous for their тιԍнт knit bond, constantly holding intimate-yet-glamorous gatherings and parties (Brooklyn and Nicola seen with The Beckhams)
The Beckhams are also famous for their gushing social media posts on each others’ birthdays (Seen is David’s for son Brooklyn)
But since marrying Nicola, Brooklyn’s features at these gatherings have lessened – and the actress has made clear her feelings on ever moving closer to his brood
‘There was a feeling that the wedding was all about the Peltz family, as you can imagine, as it was their house and their daughter and their son making the speeches.’
But Nicola rubbished talk of the alleged feud when she spoke to Cosmo in 2023.
‘I’ve said this so many times: There’s no feud, I don’t know, no one ever wants to write the nice things,’ she insisted.
Family friends have claimed Nicola has a pattern of ‘starting an argument’ before family events and then preventing her husband from attending.
In recent days David’s lavish 50th birthday celebrations have been overshadowed by the enduring rift that has pitted his eldest son Brooklyn and his wife against the rest of his family.
The pair were not at David’s birthday dinner at Core restaurant in Notting Hill, west London at the weekend.
They also failed to join David and Victoria and their other children Romeo, Cruz and Harper when the family flew to France for a day of celebrations on Friday.
And they were also absent from a big family party at the Beckhams’ £10million Cotswolds estate last Wednesday, when David and Victoria were joined by their parents and siblings.
Some family friends believe that friends of Nicola have been behind the briefings about Romeo’s girlfriend Kim being the cause of Brooklyn’s rift with his family, some of which went so far to claim that he had told them he refused to come to any event at which Kim was present.
Whispers of ructions between Victoria and her daughter-in-law launched when it was claimed that Nicola refused to wear one of the Spice Girl’s eponymous designs for her wedding (Seen together in February 2024)
Some family friends believe that friends of Nicola have been behind the briefings about Romeo’s girlfriend Kim being the cause of Brooklyn’s rift with his family
A source close to the family told MailOnline: ‘Brooklyn was close to Kim because she was dating Rocco and they all hung out in a тιԍнтknit friendship group. But that was years ago. Brooklyn and Kim were close, but there was never any romance.
‘It seems Nicola doesn’t like Brooklyn spending any time with the Beckhams full stop and is using his previous closeness to Kim and her getting in with the family as a reason to not be around them. She denies it, but Nicola has been controlling him since the wedding. The family – including the brothers – have had enough of it.
‘This is the narrative that’s been put out to other news outlets, that Romeo is dating his brother’s ex-girlfriend – and that’s really weird, so that’s why they wouldn’t want to be around the family when she is there.
‘But none of this is true. And it’s really upset Romeo and his parents because Kim is seemingly being used by Nicola as a reason to start the rift. Romeo is furious at the suggestion that he would bring an ex-girlfriend of Brooklyn into the family when there never was any romance.’
According to TMZ, Brooklyn and Nicola requested to privately see David on his own to celebrate his birthday away from Romeo and Kim.
The publication claimed Brooklyn and Nicola ‘would not be present at any public family events that Kim is at for the foreseeable’ after things started to ‘go south in December’.
Family friends have claimed Nicola has a pattern of ‘starting an argument’ before family events and then preventing her husband from attending
But it has since been suggested that Brooklyn told his parents that he would be around to celebrate David’s birthday, before his screeching U-turn on the matter.
The couple apparently flew to the UK with the ‘sole purpose’ of celebrating with David but they were apparently told their options were to attend the family events or not at all.
The US publication also suggested that Brooklyn and Nicola reached out privately to wish David a happy birthday on the big day.
It was claimed Brooklyn and Nicola pulled out of attending the Met Gala with the intention of attending David’s birthday party, but were no shows at both events.
