David Beckham has three grown-up sons, but he's the ultimate girl dad to his only daughter, Harper, whom he's very protective of. The former professional footballer shares a close bond with his 14-year-old teen and even once admitted that he finds it harder to say 'no' to her.
"I have no power with that little girl – no power whatsoever," he said.
"I love all my children, of course, equally. But I am definitely stricter with the boys than I am with Harper. I can’t say no to her. I think I only said no to her once; her bottom lip started shivering and I was like: 'Never again," he explained.
While her dad might be a bit more lax with her, growing up in the Beckham household, Harper still has several rules to follow alongside her brothers - and there's one that David is arguably stricter about with her than he was with any of his older sons.
© Instagram/ @davidbeckham'Different' dating rules for Harper
Back when Brooklyn was around 16 years old, David got candid about his son being at the age to likely start dating, admitting that he and Victoria are "strong parents, and strict parents, but we're like most parents."
"We love our kids and we want the best for them, so we’ll see," he added to Entertainment Tonight in 2016.
Harper was just four years old at the time, but her dad already admitted that when she was of age, the rules would "definitely be different".
The footballer has been protective of his daughter from an early age, revealing back in 2013 how he would feel about his daughter being interested in boys when she got older. "Absolutely not. She’s not going out. She’s going to be like Rapunzel – up in the tower," he told The Sun at the time.
"I'm not saying I love my daughter more, but the boys are independent," he added.
© Getty ImagesNo screens at dinner
Harper only joined social media late last year, but even now, her account is still set to private. It turns out her parents are just as strict at home with screen time. The Beckhams are big on spending time as a family at dinner without the distraction of technology.
"There’s music, but no screens," David told People in 2025.
"We've always been about sitting down every evening at 6 pm, and we all eat together as a family, and we're lucky with that."
Manners are a must
Despite growing up with two famous parents, David and Victoria's kids have been raised to be humble and respectful of others.
Victoria revealed in a 2023 interview with Allure the simple rules for the Beckham household: "Work hard. Be kind. Be nice. Making eye contact is important. Be polite, shake hands, those kinds of things."
David once said that his sons had been "saying their please and thank yous since they were two or three years old." He called his four grown-up children "very polite" and "well-mannered" during an appearance on James Corden's podcast last November.
"My kids are humble and they all have the same values as what I have and my wife has," he added. "That’s the proudest thing that we have as parents, in all honesty."
