Tattoos are often a source of conflict in Jewish families. But has a Jewish tattoo ever been a part of familial drama in the way that Nicola Peltz Beckham’s has? Likely not.
Yesterday, Nicola Peltz Beckham shared a selfie featuring her ribcage tattoo. Her tattoo is the Yiddish phrase “משפחה ערשט” (mishpoche ersht), meaning “family first.” Under ordinary circumstances, this would be a run-of-the-mill post for the 31-year-old Jewish actress. Except her husband, 26-year-old Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, just began a public feud with his parents, David and Victoria Beckham, leaving some, particularly the tabloid writers at Page Six and The Daily Mail, to wonder whether the tattoo is a pointed message to her in-laws.
The Instagram post came on the same day as Brooklyn posted a long statement in an Instagram story in which he lambasted his parents for not supporting his relationship and, he claims, “endlessly” trying to undermine it. “I do not want to reconcile with my family. I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life,” Brooklyn said, in part. People Magazine previously reported that there was a rift between Brooklyn and his parents due to his relationship and marriage to Nicola, allegedly stemming from a kerfuffle over whether Victoria Beckham would design Nicola’s wedding dress. (In 2023, Nicola told Variety there was no issue over the dress. Ultimately, she wore a Valentino couture gown.)
In his Instagram story, however, Brooklyn states that Victoria canceled making Nicola’s wedding dress “in the eleventh hour,” that both of his parents attempted to pressure him into signing away the rights to his name ahead of the wedding and that multiple family members told him that Nicola was “not family” the day before the ceremony. Brooklyn’s most bizarre claim is that Victoria “hijacked” Brooklyn’s first dance with Nicola. “She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone,” he wrote. “I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.” He then added that his and Nicola’s August 2025 vow renewal, which his parents seemingly were not present at, sprang from a desire to make new, happier wedding memories.
Well, that certainly puts a damper on the joyfully Jewish aspects of the first Beckham-Peltz nuptials, including a ceremony officiated by a rabbi under a flowery chuppah, monogrammed kippot and a raucous-looking hora…
Brooklyn also has qualms with his family aside from the wedding. In his posts, Brooklyn accuses his parents of being controlling, manipulative and press-obsessed. “All we want [sic] peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family,” Brooklyn concluded.
So … is Nicola Peltz Beckham’s Yiddish tattoo really part of this fight? Given that she got inked in 2016 (at least, according to stealherstyle.net, so take it with a grain of salt), she definitely didn’t get the tattoo to make this statement. Perhaps she was just posting a selfie, as a young, attractive socialite is want to do. Or, perhaps the selfie, with this tattoo in plain view, was meant as a nod to the ongoing fight.
But sadly, the larger question of whether Brooklyn and Nicola and David and Victoria will ever be able to heal their relationship seems even less clear.
