Brooklyn Peltz Beckham said in his bombshell statement in January that he was seeking 'peace, privacy and happiness' by stepping away from his famous family, because they had tried to ruin his relationship with his wife Nicola.

He added that since breaking ties with parents David and Victoria Beckham, and siblings Romeo, Cruz and Harper, he was no longer suffering from 'overwhelming anxiety'. Initially, there was only shocked silence from Camp Beckham.

But in the weeks that followed, his family continued to like occasional posts on Instagram, and to refer to him as still part of their family, for instance in recent Mother's Day posts on social media.

Last month, Victoria raised the issue in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, talking about doing her best to be a good mum. 'Being a parent of young adult children and adult children, gosh, I mean, it's very different from having little children,' she told the paper. 'I think we're trying to do the best we can.'

She added: 'We love our children so much. We've always tried to be the best parents that we can be. We've been in the public eye for more than 30 years now, and all we've ever tried to do is protect our children and love our children.'

I hear that dad David is up next, to push the 'poor us' narrative, and will be making some carefully worded statements about the family feud between now and the start of the FIFA World Cup on June 11.

David, 51, who earned 115 caps for England (59 as captain), has signed a number of commercial deals and has publicity commitments to fulfil, so will be firmly back in the spotlight during the tournament. He will say – echoing his wife's words – that he still loves all his children – and that family comes first.

Sources close to the pair say they believe they did nothing wrong and I understand they are now being advised the fallout from Brooklyn's statement could turn into a positive, because it 'humanises' them.

'People feel sorry for them now, and they are at the point where they can say what they want to say, with dignity,' a friend of Victoria's said.

That news will surely make Brooklyn despair, given that he just wants the whole mess to go away.

Meanwhile, his wife Nicola has a presence at the Cannes Film Festival (though she herself is not in attendance). Her new film, a noir-ish thriller called Pretty Ugly, was screened for potential distributors on Wednesday afternoon, in the Palais. The event was held in Salle H, the Palais' smallest screening room – which holds just 53 people.

Would you like dipping sauce with your sex scene? 

Gillian Anderson has been having a ball in Cannes, promoting her new movie Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma with a full red-carpet premiere, followed by cocktails on the beach – and enjoying a big hair moment, too (rocking a tightly curled blonde mane).

'This is my first time in Cannes with a film, after a few hundred years of being in the industry, and I'm so honoured to be here with this particular film,' she joked after the picture won a nine-minute standing ovation on Wednesday.

Anderson, 57, refused to address speculation that she might have some kind of role in the forthcoming X Files reboot, which fans are certainly calling for.

Her partner in crime on the Croisette is US actress Hannah Einbinder, whom you may recognise from Sky Atlantic's hit comedy Hacks.

In Camp Miasma, she plays a young film director who falls – dangerously hard – for Anderson's character, a reclusive actress who was the 'final girl' in the film that launched a slasher horror franchise.

There's a lot of gory mayhem, and also a very sexy scene involving the two women, fried chicken and some dipping sauce.

Einbinder said: 'They are pleasure seekers; and something like a dipping sauce becomes so ultra-sensual.'

The pair's obvious chemistry, with or without dipping sauce, has attracted comment.

'It was just swell,' Einbinder said, of their on-screen relationship.

But the 30-year-old admitted she felt 'really challenged by the material and the movie'.

Dame Joan watches her step in Cannes

There are 24 iconic – and very steep – steps up to the door of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. And Dame Joan Collins, who is 92, took them with great care.

Supported on one arm by her husband Percy Gibson and on the other by theatre producer John Gore, she appeared to nearly trip – several times – on the trailing hem of her sculptural white dress as she negotiated the stairs.

The actress, who enrolled at Rada in 1950 and was a Rank starlet in the early days of her acting career, said she had taken a few dancing lessons to make sure she moved with grace on the red carpet on the opening night of the 79th film festival on Tuesday.

Guinness was good for him - now Boyle's a real Charmer 

He won a legion of fans as Arthur Guinness in House Of Guinness and now actor Anthony Boyle is to cement his burgeoning heartthrob status by taking on a role made famous by Nigel Havers.

Belfast-born Boyle, 31, is to star in a forthcoming drama called 'Charmer', playing a conman who seduces and manipulates women. It's a loose remake of The Charmer, the 1987 TV series which made a star of smoothie Havers, and it is being filmed for Sky. In the 1987 show (which won two Baftas), Havers played Ralph Gorse: a ruthless conman in 1930s Britain. Fiona Fullerton was his co-star.

It's not known whether this new series will be set in the past, but it will feature a handsome seducer who double-crosses women.

Boyle caused a sensation with a frank full-frontal scene in House Of Guinness, which I would advise against Googling at work. He was also excellent in the Disney+ series Shardlake; and appeared in the films Tolkien and Tetris.

His new film, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, is having its premiere here in Cannes. He plays a delivery driver called Patrick in the kitchen-sink drama about five Brummie pals.

His wife is played by actress Lola Petticrew – whom he's known since they were both 11 and members of The Rainbow Factory performing arts school in Belfast.

Petticrew (who calls Boyle 'Anto') says: 'It's the biggest gift ever to go into work every day and just be looking at your best mate.'

But mastering the Birmingham accent had been less fun. 'Really tough,' she adds.

Why the new White Lotus will be twice as nice 

Everyone staying at the Hotel Martinez, arguably the ritziest resort in Cannes, has been keeping their eyes peeled for Mike White and the White Lotus team.

They've not been in evidence – yet – in the spa or around the pool, but the staff quietly confirm that they are lurking... and filming series four. The plot can now be revealed. It revolves around two rival film teams, both with movies opening at the Cannes Film Festival.

One is staying at the Martinez, which is called the White Lotus Cannes. The other is at the Chateau de la Messardiere, rebranded the White Lotus du Cap. Helena Bonham Carter has exited over 'creative differences' and her role has now been rewritten for actress Laura Dern (who worked with White before, on the award-winning Enlightened).

Sir Ben Kingsley has also been added to the cast.

The plot thickens!

Romanian-American actor Sebastian Stan has a soft spot for Channel 4's Gogglebox. 

Stan, best known for playing Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier in the Marvel films, is unrecognisable as a schlubby dad with a shaved head and bad teeth in his new film Fjord, which is screening at the festival.

The picture is about an immigrant Romanian family living in Norway, and does not sound like a barrel of laughs.

Unlike Gogglebox, which Stan said he found 'hilarious'. 'It has a very weird soothing quality to it,' he added. He was introduced to it by his British girlfriend Annabelle Wallis, with whom he is expecting a baby.

Meanwhile, he's about to start filming in London as Harvey Dent, aka Two Face, in The Batman: Part II, with Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne.

The Hobbit loves an omelette! Elijah Wood, who presented Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson with his honorary Palme D'Or this week, chose a substantial breakfast at the Carlton Hotel.

No word as to whether he followed this with a second breakfast, or elevenses, as stipulated by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Some of the staff at Strictly Come Dancing were not terribly surprised by the news last week that host Tess Daly and her husband Vernon Kay are splitting up. I'm told that the 'dismissive' way she treated him was the talk of the crew, and that doting Kay would wait on her hand and foot.