Cruz Beckham and Jackie Apostel are no fans of a slow-burn romance. The lovebirds have been seemingly joined at the hip since going public with their relationship at Glastonbury Festival in June, with Jackie wasting no time integrating herself within the influential fold that is Brand Beckham.
However, as Brazilian native Jackie – who just celebrated her 29th birthday, making her 10 years older than Cruz – outwardly appears to have nailed the meeting-the-parents phase, heat has learned that the age gap and the fast-moving nature of the relationship has left Cruz’s mum and dad clashing – especially as marriage has already been mentioned.
On the tension that’s bubbling between Victoria and David, an insider tells us, ‘Vic wants her boys to grow up to be well-rounded men. To do that, they need to experience the world and learn, so she feels Jackie is a good influence on Cruz in that sense. But the age gap is far from ideal in Vic's mind. While she may have given the relationship her seal of approval, deep down she was hoping that it would turn out to be more of a fling.
‘To make matters worse, Vic is fuming at David because he seems to be encouraging the situation, saying that Jackie will make a man of Cruz and that he’s just having fun. But Vic has asked David if he will be laughing if they end up getting married.’
Budding musician Cruz – who is poised to release his debut album any time now – relocated from his family’s multi-million-pound West London home last year to pursue a music career in Los Angeles. Working hard and playing hard, the youngest Beckham son is understood to have had a dynamic love life across the pond before getting serious with songwriter Jackie. After being briefly linked to Tiktok star Issey Moloney in early 2024, Cruz went on to date fellow music artist Viktoria Reitan, known as Bby Ivy. In September, Viktoria accused Cruz of being unfaithful, sharing a TikTok of him playing the guitar before leaning over to kiss her.
‘This is how we were together and he still cheated,’ she wrote. A month earlier, Viktoria took to TikTok to reveal she and Issey had bonded over the break-up. ‘We need a group chat for real – this guy did us so dirty,’ she wrote, leaving Issey replying, ‘Real.’ To date, Cruz has not responded to the cheating speculation.
But the swipes from Cruz’s ex-girlfriends have not stopped him and Jackie in their blissfully happy tracks. As well as several PDA-packed outings in the States, Cruz has already proclaimed, ‘I love you’ in an Instagram birthday message to Jackie, and she has been a central figure at multiple family events. She and Cruz were invited to the recent Beckham trip to Miami, where they were pictured in the stands watching David’s football team, Inter Miami, as well as enjoying a day out on the family’s super-yacht. Jackie was also a VIP at Vic’s fashion show in Paris in September, sitting front row with the entire Beckham family, including Brooklyn, 25, his wife Nicola Peltz, 29, Romeo, 22, and Harper, 13.
On two occasions, Jackie has cemented herself as a loud-and-proud VB fan by publicly endorsing her fashion line. The first was during Paris Fashion Week where Jackie donned one of Vic’s ensembles, writing on Instagram, ‘The most beautiful show and the most beautiful dress. Congratulations @victoriabeckham.’ The second was thanking Vic for the ‘laciest dream piece’, which Jackie donned at the launch party of Brooklyn’s latest venture, his Cloud 23 hot sauce.
As heat went to press, both Victoria, 50, and David, 49, had yet to engage with Cruz’s girlfriend on social media in any form, even after her gushing homages to the designer. And with Jackie said to be initiating conversations about marriage, our source says Vic has been left feeling even more conflicted about the relationship. ‘Jackie has been making throwaway comments about wanting to get married and having another big Beckham family wedding,’ we’re told. ‘Vic thinks her son is too young to be considering settling down, and while she’d like to have a chat with Jackie, she doesn’t want to upset Cruz or come across as a meddling mother.’
The aftermath of the last big Beckham wedding – when Brooklyn wed American heiress Nicola in April 2022 – was dominated by reports of a falling out between Victoria and her new daughter-in-law, allegedly stemming from the bride’s decision to not wear a VB-designed dress. While feud rumours have been since put to bed and the women seemingly share a cordial relationship these days, a source previously claimed that Vic will ‘try to keep her cool’ where Jackie is concerned, as her fallout with Nicola is still prominent in her mind.
But that doesn’t mean Vic has been biting her tongue around her husband. After heat previously reported that David was feeling anxious about the prospect of his teenage daughter dating, we’re told, ‘Vic has made the point that if the roles were reversed and it was Harper dating a man ten years older than her when she’s 19, David would hit the roof.
‘David certainly agrees that Cruz is too young to get married, but he doesn’t think it’s going to get to that stage and has said Vic is overreacting. The whole thing is causing a lot of tension between them as they’re on different pages. David is telling Vic to calm down about it all, which isn’t exactly going down well. But Vic’s friends and family are on her side as they do think it’s a bit off and wonder what Jackie’s intentions are. Meanwhile, David and his mates have almost been cheering Cruz on and calling him a legend for scoring such a gorgeous woman. Vic wants David to speak to Jackie with her about it all, but he doesn’t want to get involved, so she is fearing that if it’s left to her, she will be seen as the bad guy.’