After Cruz releases
NOT every 11-year-old is tipped to have a Christmas No1 hit single. Nor does every 17-year-old skateboarding fanatic have a lucrative book deal.
But then, Cruz and Brooklyn Beckham are not exactly normal folk – and neither is their determined mother.
The Mail on Sunday has established that Victoria Beckham has mounted a private but determined campaign to ‘future-proof’ Brand Beckham, mining her contacts book to establish money-spinning ventures for her sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz.
Not only is she the driving force behind Cruz’s newly released charity single, sources close to the Beckhams reveal she has helped arrange a contract for Brooklyn to release a book of photographs next year with Penguin. He is currently studying photography at a private further education college.
Even her family jokingly call her ‘The Momager’, the same nickname given to Kris Jenner, the matriarch of the American Kardashian clan who is famous for creating multi-millionpound commercial opportunities with her daughters.
Victoria’s success with Brooklyn follows an earlier high profile deal she is understood to have brokered for Romeo: he modelled for Burberry when he was just ten thanks to her friendship with the brand’s chief executive Christopher Bailey. Romeo, now 14, has since become one of the world’s most indemand young models. And then there is Cruz, whose charity record, If Every Day Was Christmas, is now tipped for the Christmas No1 spot. But not everyone is so supportive of the fledgling Beckham careers, and there is a growing backlash against the former Spice Girl. First, Mail on Sunday columnist and TV presenter Piers Morgan accused her of ‘pimping out’ her youngest son, and now outspoken X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne has claimed Cruz is ‘too young’ to be releasing a record. Speaking ahead of tonight’s X Factor final, she said: ‘I think you should wait until you are at least a teenager. It is a cruel industry and at 11 you are too young to handle that,’ she said. ‘He should be singing in his bedroom with a hairbrush or playing for the family with his guitar at Christmas.’ Victoria – who also has a seven-year-old daughter, Harper – is even using her long-standing PR, Jo Milloy, to help push her sons’ profiles. But could her transformation from ‘posh’ to ‘pushy’ backfire? One source who knows the Beckhams well admitted: ‘It’s all coming across a bit desperate – cheesy and tacky. This could easily blow up in her face.’ Victoria certainly knows what she is doing when it comes to ambition, building an impressive career as a fashion mogul from unlikely beginnings. But are her three Beckham boys made of the same tough stuff – and just how has she helped them so far?