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Waking up in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, Brooklyn Beckham cut a dejected figure as he read another barrage of anti-Nicola headlines. Incensed, he is said to have turned to his wife, and said: “F*** it….this ends now.”

Up until that point Brooklyn had kept silent despite the slew of bad publicity which had engulfed Nicola over the last 12 months. I was told repeatedly that the tantalizing prospect of Brooklyn going public about the rift with his parents was not in the Peltz PR playbook.

But as he pored over the latest article which accused Nicola of driving the feud despite him supposedly wanting to make peace with his family, something in him snapped. “He thought the abuse towards his wife would never stop until he said something in his own words,” a confidante told me. "He was sick of the lies, and there was no changing his mind….and nor did anyone want to. He was fixated on ending the bull**** which he claims his mum and dad are behind.”

• David Beckham breaks silence about 'mistakes' after Brooklyn's bombshell statement

What followed - in theform of the explosive Instagram statement on Monday evening - took everyone by surprise when they read the draft. A pal told me: “Make no mistake those were very much Brooklyn’s words, and from the heart. He spent the weekend agonising over what to say.”

It’s fair to say the 26-year-old didn’t pull any punches as he eviscerated his mum and dad over the course of 821 words. Every topic of contention was ticked off in excruciating detail. From his mum dancing “inappropriately” with him at his wedding, to his parents “trying endlessly” to ruin his relationship…it was quite the showbiz take-down.

As someone who has worked on the family feud story for the last 12 months, I’ve had a ringside seat to the story as it unfolded. I’ve been privy to all the gory details as friends on both sides of the feud have gone into battle to get their message out there.

Time and time again, I’m asked whether I’m Team Brooklyn or Team Beckham, but the truth is….I’ve tried desperately to be neither. Instead I’ve attempted to steer a line through a barrage of very conflicting, and often incendiary, views. There is no doubt that friends of the Beckhams consider Nicola to be an almost malign influence on their son. I reported on their genuine fears she was isolating him not only from his family but his friends as well.

To say the narrative - which took hold after David’s 50th birthday party - inflamed Brooklyn is an understatement. He believed then - as he does now - that his parents had authorised their friends to “throw Nicola under the bus.”

But I maintain the Beckhams' friends fears come from a good place. They were - and still are - genuinely concerned that Brooklyn is being manipulated, and that this course of action “isn’t the real him.” However this week’s Instagram statement is not the first time that Brooklyn has fought back. To counter the flurry of allegations about his wife last summer, Brooklyn’s friends were determined to set the record straight.

One made the extraordinary claim to me that Nicola has helped Brooklyn “see the emotional abuse and toxic behaviour within his family”. Predictably, it drew an angry response from the Beckhams’ friends who described the allegations as “deeply unpleasant and patently untrue”. But it marked the first time Nicola and Brooklyn ditched the gloves and decided to fight back on their own terms. Some might say it’s a bit rich for Brooklyn to now bemoan his parents for trying to “control the narrative” while allowing his friends to brief on his behalf.

But a friend tells me: “Nicola and Brooklyn did not start this…they have always tried to be on good terms with the family, and they have to be able to advocate for themselves to counter the onslaught of negativity.”

There is no doubt that this fightback inflamed the Beckhams, as well as taking them by surprise. “This salvo was definitely a taste of what was to come,” a source told me. “Anyone who thought Brooklyn wasn’t capable of going nuclear had not been paying much attention. But it’s fair to say that moment was the point of no return in many people’s eyes.”

Yet still the negative stories about Nicola continued including this month. After I revealed how Brooklyn was still in contact with his grandparents as there was “a lot of love for them,” an anonymous source briefed a newspaper how his protestations have left some "bemused to say the least.” A source told me: “It was another example of Brooklyn and Nicola being attacked over absolutely nothing. How can anyone deny the fact Brooklyn loves his grandparents.”

It was against this “poisonous” backdrop that Brooklyn pressed the nuclear button this week.But whether it puts an end to the negativity remains to be seen….