Brooklyn Beckham’s hot sauce endorsement by actor Mark Wahlberg has added a fresh twist to the long-running rift between the 27-year-old and his parents, David and Victoria Beckham.
Wahlberg promoted Brooklyn’s Cloud 23 sauce on Instagram Stories, showing himself adding it to grilled chicken before holding up the bottle and saying: “Sweet Jalapeno – my boy Brooklyn!”
The actor is also using the product in recipes served at Wahlburgers, the burger chain he launched with his family in 2011, which now has more than 30 locations.
The collaboration is notable because Wahlberg was once a close friend and business partner of David Beckham. Their relationship deteriorated after David’s company became involved in legal action against F45 Training, the fitness business associated with the actor.
David became friends with Wahlberg while living in Los Angeles and signed a deal with F45 in 2020 as a brand ambassador. In October 2022, he sued the company for 18.8 million dollars, claiming he was owed 14.3 million dollars in damages and a further 4.5 million dollars in declaratory relief over shares he said he had been promised.
The dispute was settled out of court in 2024. F45 said the lawsuit had been dismissed after the parties reached a “mutual business decision to resolve the matter”, adding that DB Ventures Limited would remain an investor in the company.
Wahlberg has also been a long-standing friend of Brooklyn’s father-in-law, billionaire Nelson Peltz. He played the father of Brooklyn’s wife, Nicola Peltz Beckham, in the 2014 film Transformers: Age Of Extinction.
At the time, Wahlberg said: “I have known Nicola since she was like 13. I am very good friends with her dad and the rest of the family. She has a really great work ethic.”
Cloud 23, which Brooklyn founded in 2024, takes its name from David’s former football shirt number at Real Madrid and LA Galaxy, while also referencing basketball star Michael Jordan, according to a spokesman for the brand.
The endorsement comes as Brooklyn continues to distance himself publicly from his family. In an Instagram post in January, he said he had cut them out of his life, wanted to be left in peace and had found contentment away from what he described as an “inauthentic” and “performative” family.
He later referred to the estrangement in a DoorDash advert, saying: “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the FIFA World Cup 2026 from home… It’s a long story.”
David appeared to make an attempt at contact this week by liking one of Brooklyn’s posts from Paris Fashion Week. There was no apparent reciprocal response, with Brooklyn having blocked his family on Instagram.
Brooklyn and Nicola attended the Paris fashion shows with her family but stayed away from Victoria’s event. Brooklyn was later pictured wearing a sweatshirt bearing the words “It’s not clocking to you”, a phrase meaning that someone does not understand what is happening.
Friends have appeared to take different sides in the family dispute. Victoria’s fellow Spice Girls and Gordon Ramsay are described as supporting the Beckhams, while DJ Fat Tony, who played at Brooklyn and Nicola’s 2022 wedding, is seen as supporting Brooklyn. Sir Elton John, a long-time friend of the couple and Brooklyn’s godfather, is described as neutral.
