By Amanda Platell Editor
At the weekend Nicola Peltz lovingly celebrated her adored billionaire-father Nelson鈥檚 83rd birthday. She threw Daddy a lavish party at the family鈥檚 huge New York mansion which was festooned with colourful balloons, and she gushed on Instagram over the 鈥榤agic鈥 day.
Alongside a huge 鈥楬appy Birthday Nelson鈥 balloon, Nicola and hubby Brooklyn Beckham posed for a photo in silhouette holding aloft their entwined hands and making a heart sign. In a post, the image was accompanied by multiple heart emojis with the title post 鈥楧ad鈥檚 birthday鈥.
Ouch! How it must have hurt Brooklyn鈥檚 own dad, David.
There Nicola was showing the world how much trouble she went to planning her father鈥檚 perfect birthday party, when she and Brooklyn pointedly shunned David鈥檚 50th, failing to turn up to even one of the five family gatherings surrounding it.
The post seems to me a calculated poke in David鈥檚 eye by Nicola. How unutterably cruel for her and Brooklyn to shun his parties yet splash her own dad鈥檚 all over the internet.
I鈥檓 increasingly concerned that Nicola may not be a very nice person. She now comes over as a cross between a Mean Girl and Kathy Bates in the 1990 movie Misery, who imprisons the man she says she adores.
For some bewildering reason she also posted on the same day a picture of Brookyln semi-naked 鈥 thankfully he was wearing a towel to cover his privates.
Perhaps it was to prove, rather like the craven Gollum in Lord of the Rings, that 鈥榟e鈥檚 mine, mine, all mine鈥.
Maybe flaunting the party and Brooklyn was a way of rubbing David and Victoria鈥檚 noses in the fact that she has now laid complete claim to their estranged son.
He bizarrely changed his name when they married to Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, saying in an interview that taking Nicola鈥檚 last name was a way of honouring her.
He said at the time, 鈥楴ot many guys take their wives names, so I was just like, 鈥淲hy Not?鈥 It fit really cool together.鈥 So whose idea was that Brooks, yours or your fiercely ambitious wife鈥檚?
Even if she is a pampered billionaire鈥檚 daughter, no one had ever heard of Nicola over here before Brooklyn came along.
The bonus of marrying a Beckham for a struggling actress can鈥檛 be ignored.
But did she also sow the seeds of his estrangement from his family by suggesting they were dysfunctional and she was the refuge in the storm?
Nicola鈥檚 got some experience herself of 鈥榗omplicated鈥 families. Her father has married three times, and she鈥檚 the product of his third marriage to glamorous former fashion model Claudia Heffner, 13 years his junior. Nicola has one sister and six brothers. 鈥 and two more half siblings.
It鈥檚 a sharp contrast to the Beckhams 鈥 David and Victoria, despite their trials, have been together for 25 years and are still going strong.
He鈥檚 one of the most celebrated footballers in the world, while she鈥檚 a former member of what was once the world鈥檚 most famous girl band the Spice Girls is now a successful fashion designer with her own brand.
Yes it might have been love at first sight for Nic and Brooks, but I can鈥檛 help wondering if there was something calculating in the way nobody Nicola hooked up with a Beckham, one of the most famous names in the world.
Few doubt that if Brooklyn hadn鈥檛 met Nicola, he would still be in the loving arms of his stable family. Not estranged from his father and mother, not alienated from his brothers Cruz and Romeo, and would instead be openly celebrating his dad鈥檚 birthday and knighthood.
Will he break ranks with Nicola to post a message to his once-adored younger sister Harper who turns 14 this month? Who knows.
But it brings us to the biggest question of all. Why does Brooklyn鈥檚 love for Nicola mean he鈥檚 had to sacrifice his entire family? What hold does she have over him?
Was the plan always to boost her profile, to lovebomb the not-very-bright Brooklyn then milk the family鈥檚 stardom?
If so, it hasn鈥檛 much shifted the dial on her Instagram account, where she has 3.1million followers, meagre in celebrity terms, compared with Brooklyn鈥檚 with 16.2million, David鈥榮 88.2million and Victoria鈥檚 32.9million.
Whatever, it must be heartbreaking for David and Victoria and their other children to see their first-born so estranged, or should I say ensnared. To see him half-naked celebrating Nicola鈥檚 father鈥檚 birthday when the couple couldn鈥檛 spare a moment from their busy diary (doing what exactly? Promoting his hot sauce?) for Brooklyn鈥檚 own dad David.
And doesn鈥檛 it remind you of another terrifyingly ambitious, and beautiful but unknown, young woman who bewitched the son of a famous family 鈥 leading him he claim his own flesh and blood were dysfunctional. Yes I am thinking of you, Meghan Markle.