Brooklyn Joseph Peltz Beckham (born 4 March 1999) is an English model and photographer. He is the eldest son of English former footballer David Beckham and English singer-turned-fashion designer Victoria Beckham.
Beckham was born at The Portland Hospital in London, the son of David Beckham and Victoria (née Adams). It is often reported he was named Brooklyn because he was conceived in Brooklyn, New York City. However, according to his mother's 2001 autobiography Learning to Fly, she and her husband simply liked the name. His mother recalled it was only after choosing the name they "realised how appropriate it was because it was in New York that she found out she was pregnant, and where David came after the World Cup."[1]
At age 15, Beckham worked weekend shifts at a coffee shop in West London.[7] Beckham played in the Arsenal F.C. Academy, but he left in 2015 after not receiving a scholarship to remain with the academy.[8]
Beckham has been a brand ambassador for Huawei and its Honor 8 smartphones alongside Scarlett Johansson, Karlie Kloss and Henry Cavill.[10] In 2018, Beckham posted two snapshots of Chinese tourists in Italy on Instagram above the caption "No place like Italy innit", prompting many Asian and Chinese people on social media platforms Twitter, Instagram and Weibo to accuse him of anti-Asian or anti-Chinese racism.[11]
In 2016, at age 16, Beckham photographed a campaign for Burberry BRIT, starring models Ben Rees, Carvell Conduah, Eliza Thomas, Liv Mason Pearson and Maddie Demaine.[12][13][14] Beckham's hiring for the campaign was met with criticism by several prominent photographers. Chris Floyd called Burberry's decision to employ Beckham a "devaluation of photography" and "sheer nepotism", while fashion photographer Jon Gorrigan called it an example of "a bit of injustice in a lot of areas" of the industry.[15]
Photography
In 2017, Beckham announced that he would pursue a photography degree at Parsons School of Design at the New School in New York.[16] After less than a year in the US, however,[17] Beckham's first book of photography, entitled What I See, was published in June 2017. Critical reactions were mixed to negative.[18] A handful of leaked photographs became the focus of ridicule on Twitter, with users lampooning the "terrible photographs and even worse captions".[19] However, Random House, Beckham's publisher, defended the book as reflecting the interests of his teenage fan base.[20] Beckham returned to the UK and in 2019 interned for British photographer Rankin.[21]
Cooking
In 2021, it was revealed that Beckham was to try his hand at becoming a professional chef. His online video series Cookin’ With Brooklyn attracted criticism when it was revealed that it took 62 professionals to create each episode, at a reported cost of $100,000 each.[22] Critics also pointed out that Beckham had no real professional experience or training.[23][24][25]
Personal life
Beckham previously dated American actress Chloë Grace Moretz, French-Tunisian model-singer Sonia Ben Ammar, Canadian model Lexi Wood, singer Madison Beer, dancer Lexi Panterra, Lottie Moss, sister of model Kate Moss, model Phoebe Torrance, singer Rita Ora and English model Hana Cross.[26][27][28] He attended the 2016 Democratic National Convention with Moretz in support of Hillary Clinton.[29] After breaking up and reconciling several times, Moretz confirmed that she and Beckham had broken up for good in 2018.[30]