The stand-off between the Beckhams and their son Brooklyn reached a dramatic new low yesterday – with ugly accusations and counter-accusations after Brooklyn’s sister Harper was pictured trying to make contact with him.

Brooklyn, 27, hasn’t seen his parents David and Victoria since late 2024 and this January he accused them of manipulating him throughout his ‘whole life’ and trying to ‘ruin’ his relationship with wife Nicola Peltz.

On Friday, his former footballer father David received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, watched by pal Tom Cruise, singer-turned-fashion-designer wife Victoria and their children Romeo, 23, Cruz, 21, and Harper, 14, who had all flown to Los Angeles for the event.

Four hours after the ceremony, Harper was photographed in the same pink dress and cardigan she wore to the ceremony going to Brooklyn and Nicola’s home.

The couple were not in and she left after a few minutes after reportedly leaving a hand-written letter. The paparazzi pictures were printed in the New York Post over the weekend.

Brooklyn’s lawyers accused the Beckhams of using Harper as a pawn in the hostilities.

Their statement said: ‘The fact that photographers were in place as the letter was hand-delivered says it all – this was choreographed for the cameras.’

Friends of Brooklyn’s yesterday doubled down on that allegation, accusing David and Victoria of ‘digging deep in to their bag of tricks’ with the Harper visit.

A friend commented: ‘Acting like this is very in character and on brand for the Beckhams, and it proves what Brooklyn has been saying all along. They are digging deep into their bag of tricks with this. This option that they chose is so counter-productive.

‘It achieves nothing other than relaying their desperation and all that results in is that the relationship just deteriorates.’

The source added that Brooklyn has had no meaningful contact with Harper since the row over David’s 50th birthday party in May 2025. They explained this is not because he doesn’t care about her, but the opposite.

I’m told Brooklyn loves his sister but believes any ongoing contact puts her in ‘too difficult’ a position with their parents, and so he has opted to step back to try and protect her from getting drawn into the hostilities. The source said: ‘Brooklyn has had very limited contact for that reason, and this latest incident with Harper shows that his instincts were right. Using the kids in your campaigning, this is not a great look for a parent.

‘Nothing has changed since [his statement in] January. Brooklyn does not want to get involved in a PR war. The Beckhams have never grasped the reality of what they did to him and Nicola, and that the constant campaigning against their son’s wife had consequences. It’s not just what they did, it is that they didn’t stop doing it. It is very sad when a family is fractured like this.’

Friends of the Beckhams though insisted yesterday that David and Victoria had not been aware that Harper had gone to visit Brooklyn.

They claimed that a photographer had just ‘got lucky’ to catch her there.

Describing the idea of set-up pictures and a PR stunt involving the teenager as ‘obviously nonsense and unpleasant’, a friend said: ‘As if anyone would do that, let alone on the day of David’s star. If they were really brand and image-obsessed, [the ceremony] would have been the focus, not setting up pap shots which, by the way, they have never done.

‘I suspect the paparazzi was there waiting to catch Brooklyn and Nicola on the day of David’s star ceremony – it was just lucky for the pap.

‘Harper dropped past on the spur of moment. No one even knew Harper had been there. She went off her own back, to drop something off.’

David and Victoria hadn’t known of her plan but would have been supportive of it if they had, the friend said.

Now more strongly than ever, the Beckham family believe that Brooklyn is ‘mean’ and ‘heartless’ and as proof, they point to the allegation that Harper’s visit was choreographed. The source said: ‘How can anyone criticise a 14-year-old who has been cut off from her brother for more than a year? It’s really a very unkind and unpleasant thing to say but frankly nothing is a surprise.

‘Only they can answer why they are now choosing to attack the sister that they previously liked to pretend he maintained contact with.’

Friday’s photos showed Harper arriving in a chauffeur-driven car at Brooklyn and Nicola’s Beverly Hills property and leaving looking thoughtful just moments later.

Aspiring chef Brooklyn then shared an Instagram Story showing himself out for a run in New York City, making it clear that he was on the opposite side of the country when his younger sister arrived at his front door.

David’s plaque on the Hollywood Walk of Fame will have cost him or a sponsoring entity $75,000 (£56,000) in installation and maintenance fees. It costs $250 to nominate someone for a star and a committee at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce then chooses who to select.

In the run-up to the ceremony, he was asked about the family fall-out and said: ‘To be honest, I’m sorry to stop you there, but that’s a private matter. That’s the one thing that I don’t want to talk about.’

The Beckhams have been embroiled in an increasingly acrimonious dispute with Brooklyn and Nicola for months, with relations said to have deteriorated dramatically after the couple failed to attend David’s 50th birthday celebrations. In January, Brooklyn released a scathing six-page statement denouncing his parents. He said he was severing ties from his famous family – declaring he was no longer part of ‘Brand Beckham’ and insisting the family relationships were ‘performative’ and ‘inauthentic’.

Brooklyn complained that David and Victoria had controlled him for much of his life, attempted to drive a wedge between him and Nicola and left him embarrassed when his mother danced ‘inappropriately’ with him during the first dance at his wedding.

Last summer Brooklyn and Nicola’s lawyers wrote to the Beckhams’ team requesting all communication be conducted through legal representatives. And just months later Brooklyn blocked his parents and siblings on Instagram.

In an interview in May, Victoria said: ‘Being a parent of young adult children and adult children, gosh, I mean, it’s very different from having little children. I think that we’re trying to do the best we can.’

Harper is launching a skincare range with the help and support of her mother, who has her own make up line, next year before her GCSEs. Romeo is a model and also recently launched a collection of sportswear, while Cruz has been trying to make it as a musician, again with the backing of his famous parents.

• Alison Boshoff is the author of Brand Beckham, to be published by Century on August 13