The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Brooklyn Beckham, Family Estrangement & Modern Parenting

Summary

The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Brooklyn Beckham, Family Estrangement & Modern Parenting

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – January 26, 2026
Hosts: Tudor Dixon
Guest: Bethany Mandel
Notable Themes: Family estrangement, celebrity culture, modern parenting, social media’s influence, motherhood’s cultural perception

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Tudor Dixon Podcast dives into the public family estrangement between Brooklyn Beckham and his famous parents, David and Victoria Beckham. Bethany Mandel, writer and commentator, joins to analyze the Beckham situation, connect it to broader trends of family rifts (including references such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle), and discuss the challenges facing modern parenting, family loyalty, and the portrayal of motherhood in today’s culture and social media landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brooklyn Beckham’s Public Estrangement (02:30–08:24)

• The discussion is sparked by Brooklyn Beckham’s recent, revealing Instagram stories outlining why he is estranged from his parents.
• Tudor and Bethany draw clear parallels between the Beckhams’ "Hollywood royal" drama and the widely publicized rift in Prince Harry’s family.
• Bethany’s Defense and Doubts:
  • Bethany initially sympathizes with Brooklyn, feeling his social media posts are justified but admits second thoughts upon learning of his friendship with Meghan Markle.
  • She cites an Instagram story where Brooklyn describes his wedding as being hijacked by his parents for the "Beckham brand," notably recalling Victoria Beckham inappropriately dancing with Brooklyn, leaving his wife Nicola in tears.
  • Quote:

    “His mother hijacked their first dance, danced with him inappropriately on stage and embarrassed him. His wife left in tears.” – Bethany Mandel (03:57)

• The dynamic is exacerbated by David Beckham later making a TV appearance on social media-use rather than directly addressing family tensions.
  • Quote:

    "That's not the behavior of someone who wants to fix things with their kids and de-escalate the situation." – Bethany Mandel (05:35)

2. The “Brand” of Family & Wealth Dynamics (05:43–08:24)

• Tudor investigates the family wealth dynamic: Nicola Peltz (Brooklyn's wife) comes from an even wealthier family than the Beckhams, which complicates motivations.
• Discussion about how both young adults benefit from their parents’ brands, even while resenting aspects of that commodification.
  • Quote:

    “Neither of you could possibly have this kind of money at your age... without having had parents that did something to create a brand.” – Tudor Dixon (07:13)

3. Mother-in-Law Tropes, Boundaries, and Oedipal Overtones (08:24–11:16)

• The conversation shifts to the universal dynamics in mother-in-law & daughter-in-law tensions, with Tudor comparing it to classic sitcom tropes.
• Bethany investigates the “Oedipus thing,” referencing Victoria Beckham’s inappropriate dance and the “creepy” side of intense mother-son relationships.
  • Quote:

    “Before I had boys, I was like, what is this like, thing with mothers and sons? It's weird and kind of creepy. Then I had boys... maybe that's how she gets her snuggles.” – Bethany Mandel (10:18)

• The hosts share personal stories of letting go as parents:
  • “A son is a son till he takes a wife. A daughter’s a daughter for life.” – Tudor Dixon (11:08)

4. Estrangement as a Cultural Phenomenon (16:21–19:48)

• Tudor reflects on friends whose spouses have cut off their parents, noting how it severs one’s history.
• Estrangement is linked to political and cultural polarization (“if you don’t agree politically, just cut that part of your family off”).
• Bethany: Modern culture undervalues family and motherhood, leading to isolation and generational rifts.
  • Quote:

    "Motherhood has been made to look so terrible and so oppressive... people put it off for a really long time and then say, 'maybe that’s not something I want at all.'" – Bethany Mandel (18:04)

5. Motherhood, Martyrdom, and Joy (19:48–22:28)

• The negative portrayal of motherhood is critiqued from both left and right.
  • On the left: motherhood as oppressive, “I wish I didn’t have children” narratives.
  • On the right: pressure to have children for demographic or moral reasons, painting it as sacrificial drudgery.
• Both hosts advocate a balanced middle ground—portraying motherhood as fundamentally joyful and rewarding.
  • Quote:

    "Kids are really fun. And it's really... There’s so much joy." – Bethany Mandel (19:49)

6. Social Media’s Distorting Influence on Family & Parenting (22:28–27:46)

• The fixation on social media curation (“getting the perfect Instagram moment”) is seen as fueling both resentment and impossible standards.
• Tudor avoids posting her kids’ images publicly, but notes even small, private shares can create family anxieties.
• The pressure to keep up is universal, not just celebrity-specific.
  • Quote:

    “Motherhood has a PR problem. That’s my tagline.” – Bethany Mandel (23:29)

• The rise of victimhood culture and “martyr narratives” around parenting are called toxic—undermining resilience and positive modeling for children.

7. Generational Gaps and Perspective (34:27–36:55)

• The hosts discuss how older parents and widely spaced generations can struggle to relate to younger family members’ perspectives.
• Personal anecdotes illustrate how only after becoming parents themselves do people appreciate their own parents’ decisions and sacrifices.

8. Wealth, Success, and the Perspective Gap (36:55–41:34)

• Tudor and Bethany explore how the immense drive and hardship required to build the Beckham family fortune create a gap that Brooklyn likely can’t appreciate.
• There’s sympathy for David and Victoria’s pursuit of brand and security, though both agree boundaries were potentially crossed.

9. Estrangement’s Costs and Positive Parenting Takeaways (41:34–43:55)

• Both hosts agree:
  • Don’t exploit or embarrass your children publicly.
  • Model gratitude and positive family relationships—tell your children you feel blessed to be their parent.
  • Men especially should call their parents, modeling family connection for their own children.
• Final message is persistent optimism, love, and joy in parenting.
  • Quote:

    “I am so blessed to be your mom. I’m so grateful to be your mom. Show some gratitude for your kids and model that for them.” – Bethany Mandel (42:13)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the Beckham-Brand Dynamic:

  “He said… they’re only concerned about the Beckham brand. But I get that part.” – Tudor Dixon (07:13)

• On Crossing Parental Boundaries:

  “Victoria was not happy to have her daughter in law in the picture. And he said… his father said to him, ‘Well, she’s blood and she’ll never be blood.’” – Bethany Mandel (08:41)

• On Motherhood’s Image Problem:

  “Motherhood has a PR problem. That’s like my tagline.” – Bethany Mandel (23:29)

• On Social Media & Parenting:

  “What other people do, doesn’t affect me. We need to re-teach that to our kids.” – Bethany Mandel (27:47)

• On Positive Parenting:

  “I am so blessed to be your mom. I’m so grateful to be your mom.” – Bethany Mandel (42:13)

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Noteworthy Segments (with Timestamps)

• Estrangement narrative intro (02:30–05:43)
• Brooklyn’s Instagram and wedding drama (03:20–05:04)
• Discussion of wealth and generational worldview (07:03–08:24)
• “Oedipus thing” and the challenge of letting go as parents (08:24–11:43)
• Motherhood, public identity, and social media criticism (19:48–23:29)
• How to model family positivity and avoid estrangement (41:34–43:55)

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Conclusion

The episode provides a thoughtful, often humorous take on the Beckham estrangement, using it as a lens for exploring the broader issues of generational understanding, the impact of social media, the dangers of exploitative parenting, and the pervasive undervaluing of motherhood in modern culture. Both Tudor Dixon and Bethany Mandel ultimately advocate for positivity, boundary-setting, and deep family engagement as antidotes to estrangement and negativity.

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Transcript

[Tudor Dixon]

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[Tudor Dixon]

Welcome to the Tudor Dixon Podcast. Today, I think this is just going to be a wild conversation because we're learning all about this estrangement from the Beckham family. We've got Brooklyn Beckham. He is the son of the famous duo of David Beckham and Victoria Beckham. And he's had this bad situation with his marriage and them getting involved. And so I thought, I need someone that can talk about this. And Bethany Mandel wrote an article about this. You seem to be a good person to kind of break down. How is this happening? This is not the first. I mean, I feel like Harry was the first, like, really big story. Prince Harry was the big story about getting an estrangement situation from family. And obviously we watch that because it's the royal family, and this is kind of like our other. A different type of royal family. A Hollywood royal.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah, yeah. And they're still British. It's funny, actually, I just heard. So I filed my column for the New York Post, and then I heard after I filed, and my column is actually in defense of Brooklyn in some ways. And then I heard that Brooklyn is friends with Meghan Markle. And I was like, oh, can I withdraw my column? I don't know, maybe. But it's like a very similar situation. It's like this British guy meets this American girl, and then the family, the British side of the family, absolutely implode. And so I'm a little. I'm a little bit on the fence, but I. I think I'm still on Brooklyn's team. So he has been pretty quiet. And then he unleashed a series of, like, five or six Instagram stories where he talked about the origins of the estrangement and why he's not interested in reconciling with his parents. And he talked about. One of the most notable things to me was his wedding. And basically him and his. His. His wife was a guest at their wedding, and really it was the Beckham show. And he talked about how his. More about them and their image more than anything else. And he. He said, you know, I. I don't. I. I can't let my. My wife be treated like this. And so he talked about how his mother hijacked their first dance, danced with him inappropriately on stage and embarrassed him. Embarrassed them, and his wife left in tears. And there's been some corroboration of that side of the story in Page Six, so that I feel like, you know, there's something there. But to me, Actually, what is most exonerating for Brooklyn is the day after he posted all of these Instagram stories, David Beckham did a TV segment about social media. And, like, people have to realize that when you're in Hollywood, you get to choose what TV segment you're talking about, what you're talking about. He didn't have to do a TV segment the next day on social media, and he chose to. And he probably opted to. Almost certainly opted to. And in that segment, he said, you know, well, my kids have made mistakes on social media, and that's not the behavior of someone who wants to fix things with their kids and wants to come to a place of understanding and de. De escalate the situation. And so that kind of was exonerating for Brooklyn to me.

[Tudor Dixon]

So. So I'll play devil's advocate on that, because as I'm watching this, so I had to kind of do some research on the whole both families, because I don't follow the Beckhams that much. I see. I see some of their social posts, and sometimes I see posts that I'm like, oh, my gosh, they live on, like, a farm. And he has. It sounds really lovely. You know, when I watched the last thing was David Beckham in his backyard, and he created this whole garden, which was like a huge, huge garden. And I'm sure he didn't do it himself, but in my mind, as I'm watching it, I'm like, look at this. He's made this amazing garden, you know? Cause it felt very real. Because that's, of course, what you do on social media. And, you know, there were goats and all kinds of little animals, and it seemed very, like almost Peter Rabbit, ish. You know, I'm like, this is amazing. And they're British, and it's so cool. So then all of a sudden, you start hearing about this argument within the family, and I have a few different takes because I. So I started researching the families that. Her family. The family she's from is also very wealthy, actually wealthier than Brooklyn's family. They. Brooklyn's family is worth like $600 million, and they're worth a billion and a half or something, you know, so, like, more money than I will ever know. And. And part of me, I'm like, okay, so she. The wife. Nicola. Is that her name?

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah.

[Tudor Dixon]

Okay, so the wife of Brooklyn is worth 50 million, and he's worth 10 million. I've. According to reports. Right. So part of me is like, dude, neither of you could possibly have this kind of money at your age, they're like 20, you know, without having had parents that did something to create a brand. And he said, you know, they're only concerned about the Beckham brand. But a little part of me is like that. I get that part. I understand being frustrated with the, you know, your parents doing weird things at your wedding. I mean, I remember my parents were both wildly dancing at my wedding in a way I had never seen. Not inappropriate, certainly not inappropriately, but like the most joy I've ever seen. Which was a little offensive because I'm like, are you this happy to get rid of me? But they were very happy. Obviously not to the point of what we hear from this story of her actually grinding on her son, which is so creepy.

[Bethany Mandel]

So I want to get into this whole Oedipus thing because I think that there's a lot there. But I will, I will push back on you a little bit because it's not just the fact that he was like commoditized by his parents, but that at the exclusion of her. And they were kind of like, our brand is our brand and that's the most important thing.

[Tudor Dixon]

Okay, so she was not allowed to be a part of the brand.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. And so there was a, there's a video of, of Brooklyn and his parents on a red carpet. And he pulled her in and you could tell no one was happy about it. His wife wasn't happy. She felt really uncomfortable. Cause she clearly she didn't feel welcome because she wasn't. And his mom was very clearly not happy. Victoria was not happy to have her daughter in law in the picture. And he said in his Instagram stories that the night before their wedding, his father said to him, well, she's blood and shall never be blood. And my response is like, well, yeah, because this isn't like England a thousand years ago. Like, people don't marry their cousins anymore. That's not an insult to say she's.

[Tudor Dixon]

Maria wasn't blood when he married her.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah, no, but I guess if you're rich enough in England, even in 2026, like, it's good to be blood related. Like, of course she's not blood, but the implication was from David. Like, she's not your family and she'll never be your family. We are only your family because we are blood. And that is not how a healthy marriage begins. And it doesn't seem like David really cared if he had a healthy marriage. And that's a shame because it seems like David and Victoria get along really well and it would be nice for them to want that for their son, but it doesn't really seem like that.

[Tudor Dixon]

But don't you sort of feel like this is just a blown up version of the age old mother in law story? I remember when I was a kid, so I'm older than you, but when I was little, there were these triangle yellow signs that people would stick in the window of their car. You know, it was like baby on board and, and there was mother in law and trunk was one of them that we saw quite often. And I say that because I'm like, I feel like we're watching an age old story of mother in law not being able to handle the new wife.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yes, yes. And to go back to that Oedipus thing, I think that there's a little bit of that in her grinding on Brooklyn. And it's funny. So you have, you only have girls, you have four girls? I have four boys. So I, before I had boys, I was like, what is this like, thing with mothers and sons? It's weird and kind of creepy. Then I had boys and I'm like, you know the children's book love you forever?

[Tudor Dixon]

Yeah.

[Bethany Mandel]

Where she like puts a ladder into her son's bedroom and climbs through and holds him pre boys, I was like, that is the creepiest book I've ever read in my life. And after boys, I'm like, well, is she wrong? Maybe that's, that's how she gets her snuggles. Maybe, maybe he's not answering the phone frequently enough. And I, I joke with my sons and it's not a joke. And they'll go to therapy about it one day that I have been asking them since before they could talk, will you call me every day? Because I want them to. And I have.

[Tudor Dixon]

Because you know that saying, a son is a son till he takes a wife. A daughter's a daughter for life.

[Bethany Mandel]

For life, yeah. And you got four daughters.

[Tudor Dixon]

Yes.

[Bethany Mandel]

That must be nice. No, I mean, I say to my sons, my little boys all the time, my older boys have, have already thrown me off. But my younger boys, who are three and four, I say, do you want to get married? And they're like, yeah. And then they kiss me. And we, we each say, I do. And my husband Seth is like, this is weird and creepy and you need to stop. And I'm like, I will do it for as long as they'll do it because now I have an 8 and 10 year old and I know that this isn't forever. And one day they're just gonna cast me off.

[Tudor Dixon]

It's so quickly, not forever. And that I don't want to freak you out, but somebody recently said to me, you really, those moments with your kids are really gone as soon as they get into high school. But once they get a car, then it's like they're adults because they have their own life. They see themselves as having their own life and that. My oldest is 16. My middle daughter is a freshman. So I have a junior and a freshman. And even more so with my freshman, actually, she is just like, you know, I am my own person now. She's the smartest person she knows and I get it. But it is so hard, you know, it's so hard. And I was telling you before we get on my 16 year old, she just started dating this boy and he is so sweet. He's like the nicest kid and I really do like him. It is really hard to see your child with someone else because you had, you're like, I've kept you in this perfect condition and I have to let you go.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. No, and it's also, I mean, I can see me doing it with my daughters as well. I have two dogs, I have two girls and four boys. And I can see me doing it with my daughters too because I'm like, but, but you're mine and I want you. And I homeschool. So it's even worse. I'm like, I really never let you go. And when I send them to camp, I am, I turn into a certified lunatic. So, I mean, I'm not, I'm not going to handle it well. So I, I, I feel a lot of sympathy for the parents in these situations because I'm like, I know. I'm such a psycho. Like they're not even as crazy as I am.

[Tudor Dixon]

So let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on the Tutor Dixon podcast.

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[Tudor Dixon]

I remember years ago a friend of mine was like, you know what? My husband's parents are just they're not kind to me and he's chosen me over them. And I remember at the time thinking, oh my gosh, how do you manage that though? You're like, it's like you've lost a part of your history, you've lost a part of your life and that and you you don't get to see that part of his life. And I had a lot of heartache over that. But I feel like, I mean, we're seeing this in the news where people are like, if you don't agree politically, just cut that part of your family off. And I think it has become something that's happening. And obviously I'm a very, I having a big family. I love the, I tell my kids all the time, have kids. Don't get caught in this wave of like, oh, just freeze your eggs. You can do it maybe in your 50s, like have kids, have a strong family. That's the joy of your life. And there has been this push that kids are not the joy of your life. Like, there's this anti motherhood push. And my fear is, as you read stories like this, what was that?

[Bethany Mandel]

You're speaking my language. This is literally all I talk about.

[Tudor Dixon]

So I'm afraid. And like, remember I ran for office at a time when I, you know, I was just telling my girls last night, I can't, I still can't get over the fact that the attack on me was that I was pro life. You know, think about that is so effective now, the thought of saying that motherhood is good. And certainly I'm not naive to the fact that there are bad situations out there, but I, I think that most of us who are pro life realize that there is a push for the average 25 year old woman who's been in a long term, two year relationship to abort her baby.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yep, yep. No, I mean, it really comes down to, and this is, you know, this is the birth crisis to me is that motherhood has made, has been made to look so terrible and so oppressive that people put it off for a really long time and then they say, like, maybe that's not something I want at all. And marriage as well. I mean, the, the genesis of the birth problem is actually a marriage problem. And there's just not enough people who are positively portraying marriage and positively portraying parenthood and motherhood. And when people talk about life issues, it's like, well, you don't want to do that to a kid, but do that. Or not to a kid, but to a woman do that is to have a child. That's not a death sentence. And I feel like honestly, on both sides of the aisle, motherhood is talked about like a death sentence. The left, it's like, you know, motherhood is terrible. It'll destroy your body. Meghan Trainor just had a baby via surrogate for this reason. The Doctors talk about how terrible pregnancy is and how terrible birth is, and then, you know, all through a child's life, we get these, like, think pieces. I wish I didn't have children. Children are so expensive. All these things. That's the left, but on the right, I feel like we talk about motherhood as this, like, martyrdom thing. It's like we have to raise the birth rate. You have to be selfless and live for your children and. And, you know, you have to be barefoot and homesteading and homeschooling. And I say that as, like, someone who homeschools. But they talk about it, so it's weird, but they talk about it as this. If it's this, like, sacred duty, this sacred duty, something we have to do. And I'm here kind of. You know, I'm conservative, but I'm here on the middle on this. And I'm like, kids are really fun. And it's really.

[Tudor Dixon]

I mean, this. As I heard you describing. It's funny when I hear you describing your relationship with your boys and wanting to cuddle them and the converse, the evening convers and tucking them into bed. I hear so much joy in your voice. And that as I'm listening to that, I feel like the person who has never had kids listens to that and they go, oh, see, that's weird. If you think that you have never had a child because you literally want to just. You just want the best for them. You want to cuddle them. Last night, my daughter is. She is right now, they want to do an IV test on her, and she's afraid of needles. And we were going through this. And it's funny that you bring up childbirth and your body changing, because as a mom, I mean, I've gone through some other medical issues, but childbirth is one that they know they're going to experience one day as girls, you know, or that they will likely experience. And when she's talking about being afraid of something, I'm like, look, I said, I can remember it striking me, and this seems weird, but halfway through my pregnancy with my oldest going, oh, this labor thing's really happening. There's, like, no way of avoiding it.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah, unfortunately.

[Tudor Dixon]

And then I had this moment where I was like, I've done a really good job of avoiding pain in my life. I've never broken a bone. Like, I don't know what I'm in for, you know, and being afraid of that. And I'm like. I said to her, it's so amazing what your body can do, what you're Capable of getting through. Like you are afraid because you've never done it, but going through this, like getting a needle on your arm, you don't feel it. And those conversations that only a parent can have with their child, you know, but there's joy in those conversations too.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. No, I mean, it's funny. My oldest daughter was actually present at the birth of our youngest kid. We had him at home. And it's very interesting to hear her perspective on anything sort of medical now because she watched me push a 10 pound person out of me. And so she's like, oh, that looked very unpleasant. I'm like, how cute he is now. And so she's like, it's interesting to see how she thinks about like childbirth now because she's witnessed it and she's kind of like, yeah, that part doesn't look great. And I'm like, right, but you saw like 30 seconds later, all I wanted to do was kiss this baby who still, like, looks disgusting. And she's like, yeah, yeah, that's true. I'm like, yeah, it's worth it. It's always worth it. You've seen the like, kind of worst of it. You've seen a 10 pound baby in a bed. Like it only goes up from there, honest.

[Tudor Dixon]

But you make a great point, though. I think that we. A part of this David Victoria Beckham story is that they have posted everything online, Right. So he feels like his whole life has been out there in the public, but it's all been scripted. And your article pointed out that parents, whether they're famous or not, they are trying to get the perfect Instagram moment. Like, let me get the sun just right. Stand here, let me get this picture. I want to post this picture. And it makes you. But there's also, there's, I think there's, this is twofold. You see this where some people are going, oh my gosh, I could never have that perfect of a life. But also parents tend to go, like you said, the martyrdom. You don't know how tough it is for me. Like, I had to get up and make this breakfast and I had to go on this walk and then journaling this in a way that it's like, respect me because I do a job that's so hard and not, I mean, maybe not realizing that they make it seem like this isn't what you love. It is hard, but it's wonderful.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. And I think that that's a lot of the problem. I always say motherhood has a PR problem. That's like my My tagline, and I wrote about this for Deseret News a million years ago. So if people want to Google my name and Deseret News and motherhood is PR problem. But I think a lot of this is. Is created by social media that women are complainers to a fault and people want. It's this, like, weird dynamic now with this, with our generation of victimhood confers some sort of, like, status upon you. And so it's how you get attention, it's how people, you know, feel good about you. Whereas in previous generations, resilience was really the goal. Resilience was what got you admiration. But now it's victimhood. And so women have made motherhood into this entire victimhood complex. And I try very hard to be positive just, you know, as a, as a person who is in the public eye, but also just. Just personally, I try to be a positive person and, and I try to. I try to model that for my children. We don't focus on the fact that, like, you know, when we flew home from Puerto Rico, our flight was five hours late and it landed at the wrong airport and we got home at 4:00 in the morning. Like, that's not what I want to focus on about that trip. I want to focus on the fact that, like, we went to the beach, we did this, we did that, and reorient their brain towards the positive. Because, I mean, that, that is a. That is a way that you can shape your brain to get out of, you know, a bad place. And our generation are doing the opposite. And we're doing it bad to ourselves, but we're also doing it to our children. We are modeling that victimhood is bad, resilience is not important. And we're reinforcing negatives so much that it gets people into a spiral and it's really toxic. And I think that's. That's behind a lot of this birth crisis now and marriage crisis and relationship crisis, because people are just, like, really not fun to be around and, and not happy people anymore.

[Tudor Dixon]

Well, and I do think that there is a. I mean, when you look at the Victoria Beckham situation, I do think there is a certain amount of desire to control every situation because once you've been in the public eye, and oftentimes, I mean, I'll hear some of my family members that are like, did you see what Facebook is doing today? And I'm like, no, because your Facebook is different than mine. You know, they don't necessarily realize that. And there's a lot of pressure to. They you know, I want to post this. I want to be in that same. I want to be seen that same way. And so there, there are created pressures in life that aren't really there. I mean, certainly that my parents didn't have when I was a kid. And I, I am not a personal social media poster. Like, I probably post once a year. Every so often, Facebook will come up and it'll be like, you know, here's a memory. What's happening now? And I'm like, oh, I took a picture of that kid. I could actually post that, you know, But I don't document my kids out there. I never really have. I just never caught on in my head that this is, this is something I want to do. So my kids, I was talking to them about this ahead of time because I'm like, do you feel like I put you out there a lot? And they're like, oh, my daughter goes, sometimes grandma posts a picture that I really hate. But they also don't understand that if my mom posts a picture, she only has her small friend group that sees it.

[Bethany Mandel]

You know, it's not your reach. Right.

[Tudor Dixon]

I'm like, trust me, we saw that and that was it. You know, my mom's going to call me after this and go, what are you saying? I don't have a good Facebook. But, but I do think that there is this. There's a different level of pressure that everybody is feeling. Like if I see something, then I have to be living that that's not real. I mean, the Beckham's life was not real life. And in the back of my mind, we all knew that, right?

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that's something that people need to consider. Someone posted. So in the Orthodox Jewish world, which I'm a part of, this past week was a break week. They don't take breaks during Christmas, New Year's. They usually do it like the third week of January. And so somebody posted, you know, let's normalize. No one going away for this week. And I was like, it's not your business what other people do. And it's not your concern what other people do. Just if you're not going, you don't need it.

[Tudor Dixon]

It.

[Bethany Mandel]

You don't need everyone else to normalize it for you. You can just normalize it for yourself. But I think this is the problem of social media is that people feel external pressure and they, they transform that into internal pressure. And you, you kind of just as an, as an adult on social media, you just have to fight that urge. What Other people do. Doesn't affect me. It doesn't impact me. I'm not a. Not a better or worse person because I do this and. And they do that. Like, you know, it's. It's not. It's this adage that I feel like our kids didn't grow up hearing. Like, just because your friend jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge doesn't mean you do too. I don't feel like I hear that anymore. And our kids need to start hearing it.

[Tudor Dixon]

Yeah, that absolutely is true. And I do think that there is a lot of. I think that's even where some of this pressure has come to. I mean, that's what we're hearing in the transgender world. It's like, if you don't fit in, this is a place you can fit in. And these are pressures that kids have never had before. They certainly haven't been able to connect with someone in. You know, if they're in Michigan, they don't generally connect with someone in California outside of a social media world where you can get into a really dark place. But to a certain extent, we are all guilty of this and obviously not changing our bodies. But, you know, you see the perfect house, and you're like, gosh, I didn't make that fancy dinner for my kids. You know, we ate at Chick Fil a last night. And then you have to. And. And I allow myself to. Can kind of get consumed by this guilt. Like, I'm trying to work and do this and do. And am I not enough? Do not. That, to me, is where then you can have these family. These family feuds that kind of pile on. Because I do think there is a mother in law, daughter in law, history from the beginning of time where it is easy to allow yourself to go, I'm not doing enough. And then hearing that message from another family member that. That can kind of explode that relationship.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's been this, like, really disturbing, in my opinion, explosion of estrangement. And I haven't seen statistics, and I've actually looked for statistics, and I haven't seen them. And I wonder how much of it is silly. And, you know, the therapy talk that a lot of people do, like, I'm just protecting my peace and da, da, da. And I know people who, like, they have a family estrangement because of those nonsense reasons. Most of them are political. And I wonder how much of it is. Is, you know, people of our generation pushing back on, like, entitled, crazy boomers who were just, like, you know, in their. In their time, their mother and father could treat them like insane garbage and you just had to swallow and take it. And I think our generation are sort of like reasserting some healthy boundaries. So I wonder, there's, I mean, there's no way to know, like what percentage of this explosion. And I do think it's an explosion, but again, there's no data is, is nonsense, superficial, and how much of it is, you know. Right, right. And justified. And it's hard to find that middle ground because everyone comes into this conversation with priors of knowing, well, you know this person, I know this person, I know this person, and I happen to know both. And so, you know, it's, it's hard to, it's, it's hard to pinpoint, you know, on a story like David and Victoria Beckham with Brooklyn, like, was this justified? I don't know. And there's always two sides to the story.

[Tudor Dixon]

Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on the Tutor Dixon podcast.

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[Tudor Dixon]

I wonder if it has anything to do with with maybe not, but I'd love your take on this. The difference, the age difference that we're seeing in people who had kids older and so their kids are much younger, so they've lived a much longer life. I was talking to my mom about this the other day and she was like, I'm now at a point where things that your grandparents were annoyed with me about and I couldn't understand, I get because my life is a lot like I've aged into that group. And when I was young, just a little thing. When I was young, my mom took the railings off of the stairs to the basement because she's like, I don't like the aesthetic. Like I don't like the look of them, you know. And she's and so my my grandparents came and they're what the heck? We can't walk down these stairs. My mom was like, that's ridiculous.

[Bethany Mandel]

Why?

[Tudor Dixon]

And she said to me the other day, I cannot believe I couldn't understand that, you know, I couldn't walk down the stairs without holding the railing now. And I just wonder if this is as we, as we have babies later in life, if we are so far apart generally generationally, that we see things different.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah, no, totally. I mean, I think about like with my. My husband doesn't call his parents enough. I never realized that until I had a son. And then I started saying to my husband, I was like, can we model calling your parents much more frequently? And I'd like you to call your parents, but also, can you do that in front of our children, especially our sons? I, There's a lot of things about my in laws that I, I now understand as a parent. My parents have passed away, you know, 20 years ago, so I've never, I don't have that perspective of having parents of my own as an adult. But there's so many things that I'm like, I, I can see where they were coming from now in a way that I couldn't 10 years ago. But I, you know, it's, it's, it's an interesting situation because, you know, people are not having children. I think that that's a lot of it too, is that like, you know, the, the estrangements that are superficial, that I, you know, the friends of mine that have these est. Person who's doing the estranging doesn't have children. And I think there, there is something to that, that they don't have that added necessary perspective of having kids. And it really, it changes your whole way of, of being and thinking and living when you have kids. And I hated when people would say that before I had kids because I was like, oh, God, I like, I get it, I get it. You're so much smarter. You're so much more, you have so much more perspective. And now I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, they did, actually.

[Tudor Dixon]

That's. Yes, I, and that's. And I, obviously, I don't pretend to be in the Beckham this, but I also look at him coming out of. I mean, they built, they did build a brand. It is something that could have fallen off. Not many footballers could continue to do Posh Spice.

[Bethany Mandel]

Who cares about Posh Spice?

[Tudor Dixon]

Exactly.

[Bethany Mandel]

They still do.

[Tudor Dixon]

Right? There, there was. I mean, I can't even name any of the other Spice Girls. You know, I don't know what happened to them because nothing happened to them, but they, you had to do what they did. You had to fight to keep that brand going. And I say that from the perspective of Someone who came out of a world of business and ran for office and then was like, okay, that didn't go the way I was hoping it would go. Went back to the business world. And the business world, literally a quote is, we can't hire you. We can't have a outed Republican in our office. And having this moment of going, how do I bring in money? Like, what is the answer now to making sure my kids are taken care of? Like, how badly did I screw this up? So. And obviously, they're on a much bigger scale than that, and they have a lot more money and a lot more opportunity, but they had to fight for that opportunity. There's no question in my mind that when he stopped playing soccer and she stopped singing that they went, we have to keep doing something to keep this going. And when you are a young kid and Brooklyn is only like 21 years old, is he.

[Bethany Mandel]

He's young.

[Tudor Dixon]

So he's a young romantic kid, obviously, getting married young, which I think is exciting. But also, there's a naivete to that. And I think that's also a moment where you are in this. There's a point in your life, in every kid's life, where you open your eyes and go, I thought my parents knew everything. And they don't know everything.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. And I think also, I mean, he. He never watched his parents have to fight. By the time he was conscious of, which is only 15 years, his parents, there was nothing that they had to explain. And so this is something that I struggle with. Cause I grew up very, very poor. My parents died when I was 16 and 19. I grew up in a trailer park, like, really very poor. My kids are very, very lucky. And they have no idea because they have no perspective because they're like, well, yeah, this is just. This is what we do. We go to sleepaway camp. I brought my kid to the orthodontist today for braces. And they asked me, did you have. Did you and your husband have braces? And I said, well, my husband did because he grew up middle class. I wasn't rich enough for braces. If my mom brought me in and they said it thousand dollars for an expander, she'd be like, oh, well, good luck. And I hope it works out. And that was the answer to, like, dental care as. And. But my kids are so entitled. They're like, yeah, of course our parents are gonna get us prices. I'm like, you have no idea.

[Tudor Dixon]

Right?

[Bethany Mandel]

No idea. Right.

[Tudor Dixon]

So I do think that. I mean, to even become what the Spice Girls were There was a lot of fight. There was. There had to be a lot of pulling yourself and. And to become the soccer player that David Beckham was, he had to really. I mean, he must have had to put in so many hours of fight just to get on that team, to keep going, to become the best. You know, there's a perspective that the children haven't seen. And in no way am I defending, you know, the weird dance at the wedding or anything like that, but I do think that that can also get in your head because you're like, I know what it's like to be. Have nothing. So I can't let this go. And I have to keep fighting for this brand. And. And they may have taken that too far. I just wonder, at some point, does Brooklyn himself go, okay, maybe they were obsessed, but they had their reasons.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. So do you know why he's named back Brooklyn?

[Tudor Dixon]

No.

[Bethany Mandel]

So, no.

[Tudor Dixon]

I feel like I'm about to get schooled.

[Bethany Mandel]

No. No. So I think it actually lends credence, though, to Brooklyn being like, maybe they were a little too much. He was conceived in Brooklyn. Ew. And so this was. I knew this about Brooklyn when he would, like, the day he was born. They're like, well, that's where he was conceived. Because we're such a. We're such a Randy family that, like, yeah, I will tell everyone. And I'm like, well, you know, maybe he has, like, kind of a point that, like, there was a line and it's behind them. And I just. I. So I. The things that I hear from the Beckhams themselves kind of. I'm like, well, well, yeah, maybe he had a point. Maybe they could be worth, like, 300 million instead of 600 million. And everyone didn't need to know that he was conceived in Brooklyn.

[Tudor Dixon]

That's true. So our takeaways from this, just for the audience, because I do think this estrangement is getting more popular. And from what I'm hearing from my mom's generation, there's kind of a panic about it, because they're also at the point where. Where obviously you at some point need your family around you when you get older. And I can tell from what my mom and her friends are talking about, there's this panic of, are you going to just abandon me? So what are our takeaways from this? Don't exploit your kids. Don't put them out there. Don't embarrass them.

[Bethany Mandel]

Yeah. But also teach them that being their parent is a gift. I always say to my kids, every Single day. I am so blessed to be your mom. I'm so grateful to be your mom. And that. That's part of that positive thinking and that inculcation that I'm trying to push my kids, lean into positivity, lead into gratefulness and gratitude and all of those things, and show them that family is a joy and a source of joy. And I'm hoping that I get a lot of grandkids out of it. That's the end goal here. So show some gratitude for your kids and model that for them. And know, call if. If men, all your male listeners, like, call your parents in front of your children.

[Tudor Dixon]

That is so true. It's so funny, though, because I feel the same way. I. I have these same conversations, and I wonder how many other parents have these same conversations where I'm like, God blessed me when he gave you to me. I'm so happy that you get to live here with me. And I feel like they're like, you're psycho, you know, But. But I want them to know that I do.

[Bethany Mandel]

I'm.

[Tudor Dixon]

I adore them. I think they're amazing. And that's the. That is the other message that I feel like we. If we keep that message going with our kids and we keep that message going on social media, then there's kind of this contagious feeling of why I want that. I want to know what that's like as a mom, and it's unlike anything else you'll ever experience. But I could honestly talk to you for another hour. It's been so fun. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

[Bethany Mandel]

Thank you for having me. Well, we're just gonna have to do this again.

[Tudor Dixon]

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Bethany Mandel, thank you. I really appreciate it.

[Bethany Mandel]

Thank you.

[Tudor Dixon]

And thank you all for joining us on the Tutor Dixon podcast. As always, you can [e-mail] you can get it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can always watch us on Rumble or YouTube, uterdixon. But most importantly, have a blessed day.

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