Nepo babies unite: Use your parents as a springboard

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Brooklyn Bckham? Yes the guy who drives McLaren P1 (of which 375 were produced - here) which I believe he paid from his "photographer" (here) job and his "modelling career" (here) and his "hot sauce" business (here). Kind note: Imagine your father is not David Beckham and your mother is not Victoria-posh-spice. Imagine not being born into wealth. Now imagine wanting to "divorce your parents" because you "do not want to reconcile with" them,  while assuring everyone that "(you are) not being controlled, (you are) standing up for (yourself) for the first time in (your) life." Actually Beckham-Peltz as he is now known continues his tirade and spills a lot of tea. The Peltz if you do not know comes from this wife Nicola - actor and director no less. 

Now, not to underestimate his financial wits, if you are going to divorce wealthy parents (as of today the Beckham parents are estimated to be worth 475 Million Dollars), might as well get adopted by even wealthier ones (Nikola's father is estimated to be worth 1.7 Billion Dollars). It seems that the new love nest Nicola and Brooklyn bought - estimated at a cool 16 Million Dollars - came directly from a trust registered under Nicola's name. That's one way to "blend" into another family "like Beckham".

Now of course, when your pictures are this "controversial" in quality and you still found someone to publish your book, when you make spaghetti in seawater (when abroad a yacht!) and still get youtube views, when you drive such a very rare car, and have a "hot sauce" under your name distributed on as many high end grocery outlets as possible. Maybe, just maybe, like when Princess Kate who happens to be an amateur photographer and who - in 2017 - was awarded an honorary lifetime membership and Patronage of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) a member of the public quipped "perhaps she knows someone".

Which brings us to her own brother in law - yes, Prince Harry himself (here). Funny, reports emerged that Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz hired Jenny Afia, a prominent British lawyer at the Schillings law firm who previously represented Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. But again, it is so easy to speak from a place of privilege. But seriously? Apparently even to "blend it like Beckham" might  not mean much as well, there is full disintegration there. I am still not in favor or hanging your full dirty laundry in front of anyone. 

Still, when you have over 70 tattoos on your body dedicated to your wife as Brooklyn Beckham-Peltz has (with her eyes tattooed on your neck), well, suddenly a 16 million Dollar house seems a small price to receive in return.

Dear Prince Harry, families are complicated, get over it

Jacket for Prince Harry's "Spare" memoir - credit: Penguin Random House

The scene happens inside one of Beirut's wealthiest families.

The eldest brother is furious that his sister in law (the wife of his youngest brother) is pregnant. How come? Without a heir to his brother the families' meatiest property (literally, a Beiruti landmark) would revert back to him. With a child, his brother can keep it. Now the "eldest brother" in question is married to a foreign woman of excessive wealth (I cannot reveal her family name, obviously) so basically he has no need for the property in question. 

Do I need to elaborate? 

I come from a very very large extended family - from both sides. As times goes by people you were close to would no longer be close, cousins you were very tight with you only speak to biannually. Just to be clear, this does not mean bad blood, it's called "life". I mean, imagine the scene: My cousin passes literally in front of me at a funeral, and does not even say hello. well, considering the last time he saw me was practically 35 years prior, it only makes sense. 

Actually, at this point, there is "something" happening in my nuclear family which I still did not tell my eldest brother about. My middle brother knows. There is no point sharing it with my eldest brother (both my brother and myself agreed on that) at this level, so I am postponing this.

If I am writing all this it's because Prince Harry just gave gruesome details about his fight with his brother, the current Prince of Wales, or Prince William for us commoners. Here's the issue, I think it was idiotic for him to share it.

How come? Listen, yes, my brothers and I have had our differences. Major differences. And this is where I will stop my sentence. The rest is private. If we had any "fights" it's no one's business. What we agree on or what we do not remains our internal business. There is no interest for anyone to know what happens behind our closed doors.

I am not playing saint and saying I do not share snippets with a close friend (I have the grand total or 2-3 close friends so it's not like I am writing a book about it and calling it "Spare" har, har) when things get extremely difficult. But still, even such sharing is kept to a minimum. 

I still have this idea, that no matter how much it ebbs and flows, I still consider a brother, a brother. In Arabic, so many people use the sentence "mitl khayye" (exactly like my brother), also these days the notion of "chosen family" is also very rampant (particularly in the west). 

I tend to disagree with both notions. 

Friends, no matter, how close, might tend to go away, or were not with you since birth and have shared things only family members remember or are aware of. With family you are bound to them - whether you want it or not. 

Of course, this notion might be childish, but believe it or not I tend to stand by it. 

So yes, explaining to the whole wide world about a fight that happened with your brother - is not really how things are done in my dictionary.

Long story short, Prince Harry needs to understand that families are complicated.

And eventually he needs to get over it.