Given the rift in the Beckham family: Why are we obsessed with VIP dramas?

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The feud of the week may be between Donald Trump and Elon Musk , but then again, the drama going on between the Beckhams and Brooklyn & Nicola is also super interesting. On the surface, they were perfect, until rumors spread that Victoria and David are actually no longer in a relationship with their son and daughter-in-law.

The drama has a name, “Beckxit,” a nickname the Daily Mail has given them, a portmanteau of “Beckham” and “exit.” The conflict involves a wider drama, which is said to have started in 2022, when Nicola chose to marry in a dress designed by Valentino rather than her mother-in-law.

Let's face it: VIP dramas and antics are just that, they just happen and no one knows exactly what happened, but our attention is 100% on them. Things between the two couples soured significantly when Nicola and Brooklyn didn't appear in any photos from David Beckham's 50th birthday party. Since then, their every Instagram post has been scrutinized by the media.

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So, considering our own interest, why are we so fixated on the dramas of people we neither know personally nor are aware of our existence?

"It's about intrigue and power [and] the Beckham family. But more broadly, this news is an escape from political reality and the grim news. We are drawn to it because they are supposedly richer and more accomplished than us – and when we see a flaw that reflects our daily lives, it makes us feel better about ourselves," says Dr Kadian Pow, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Birmingham.

In her 2017 book "The Stars in our Eyes," author Julie Klam compares our fascination with celebrities to a mirror that doesn't show the real you, as if they are built to keep us in check.

"If we can understand our relationship with celebrities, we can better understand ourselves. Celebrities are perfect – until they're not," she says.

“Still, rumors are not without consequences,” says lawyer Mark Stephens, citing the influence of the media. Just as newspapers have dedicated reporters for the Beckhams, an entire industry on TikTok profits from other people’s dramas for clicks and profits. According to him, it is an unregulated system. “There are defamation laws that can be used, but the damage is usually done and the news has been received,” Stephens adds.

 
“But clashes and separations are the great equalizers of life, and sometimes, when it comes to stars like Beckham, these clashes can be ‘a shared experience,’ which is very important in an increasingly fragmented society. There is so much material that gives us opportunities to gossip,” Pow continues.
 
Celebrity clashes have entertained us for centuries. In Italy, during the Middle Ages, the satirist Pietro Aretino is said to have been paid by the French king to write propaganda against the Spanish king, while he was also paid by the Spanish king to do the opposite.

Another reason for the great media interest in "Beckxit" is the fact that it involves two "nepo babies" (children who receive more attention and have more opportunities because they have VIP parents. Nicola is an actress and the daughter of a billionaire businessman and a model; on the other hand, Brooklyn, the son of a legendary former footballer and a fashion designer).
 
“These kids are trying to monetize their lives, but they are in competition not only with their peers, but also with their parents. This is especially difficult for the Beckham brand, which is built on the image of the family. Victoria and David grew up “under the bright light of the tabloids,” says Stephens.
 
He adds:
 
“But with children it is more difficult – we are dealing with a process of growing up and building boundaries, but in the public eye”.
 
But the possibility that it could all be a PR issue is not excluded, as sometimes clashes seem staged – and often they are. Some media suggest that the fight was fabricated to generate publicity for Victoria’s documentary on Netflix this October. However, we know that we should not speak prematurely and everything remains to be seen.

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