Brooklyn Beckham's former college girlfriend believes David and Victoria Beckham made a huge mistake when it came to raising him. The famous couple are dealing with the fallout of their highly publicised feud with their eldest son Brooklyn, 26, who made a number of bombshell allegations against them in a six-page statement posted on Instagram. He accused his parents of trying to repeatedly ruin his relationship with Nicola Peltz as well as pressured him to sign away the rights to his name. The aspiring chef also alleged that Victoria "hijacked" his first dance with Nicola, 31, at their wedding in 2022 and danced "inappropriately" on him in front of their 500 guests.

Now Brooklyn's ex, Afton McKeith - daughter of I'm A Celebrity star Gillian McKeith - has given her own thoughts on the family rift, explaining how the pressure of "Brand Beckham" would leave him "visibly distressed" because his parents did not protect him properly. Afton, 25, who attended sixth form with Brooklyn in 2017, told ITV News that the "inaccurate narrative" repeatedly spun about him was likely one of the reasons he finally spoke out publicly.

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."

She explained that while Brooklyn's experience at college was more "magnified" than her own, people would often stare at them.

Afton continued: "With him, he didn't have the choice because he was in the public eye before he was even born. His parents didn't protect him from the public eye. They included him in brand Beckham.

"I could see that he would get visibly distressed and anxious. He was papped everyday."

Afton recalled: "I do know that there were paparazzi every single, like, pretty much every day. 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, Afton responded: "I won't say who I think it was, but I have an idea in my mind. I'm not going to implicate anybody.

Afton was convinced it wasn't anyone from school, explaining: "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."

Believing she was referring to David, 50, and Victoria, 51, ITV News' Nina Nannar asked: "Surely not his parents?"

But Afton refused to comment further, instead offering a knowing look.