David and Victoria Beckham need to take a step back from publicising all aspects of their life in order to repair the relationship with their eldest son Brooklyn, says a family therapist Diana Parkinson. Her comments come as Brooklyn, 26, and his wife, Nicola Peltz, 30, did not attend David's star-studded 50th birthday event. David and the rest of his family had flown into London from the South of France on David's actual birthday, but Brooklyn was also nowhere to be seen.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk she said: "The Beckham's whole thing is about posting their lives. They are always selling, selling selling. But their children never had any say in becoming part of that brand. They are even now building a brand for their 13-year-old daughter. Because their whole life revolves around this none of their children have any real life experience and they have had an unnatural existence. They don't have proper careers - Brooklyn has had numerous attempts at careers at this stage. But they don't have the drive to work. Living their lives so publicly has created a very unhealthy environment and it means that when you put everything out there sometimes things you don't want out there will be made public also. Such as this current situation," she said.

"They are so obsessed with putting their lives out there that for all we know this could even be a publicity stunt," she pointed out.

"If they want to resolve things with Brooklyn they really need to do it privately and try and regain some sense of a normal family unit. I work with a lot of people going through similar estrangements but they are doing it privately and not sharing the minutae of their issues with the world.

"True, loving relationships are built on trust and have no need to be publicised or explained to anyone outside the family circle. Any relationship which exists on publicity has nothing to do with love.

"I would suggest they sit down and talk with Brooklyn privately. Ideally with a therapist present who is a neutral party."

While Diana feels they would benefit hugely from family threrpahy she thinks longer term they need to step back from putting so much of their lives in public.

"They need to take some time to just be with each other without having to tell the world or pulicise something. They shouldn't use any reconciliation as another publicity opportunity. It is hard because they have made a lot of money living their lives this way but you can't have normal relaitonships when you are using them in this way."

Diana Parkinson is a family therapist with 37 years’ experience.