Despite being the daughter of America’s 432nd richest person, Brooklyn Beckham’s new wife Nicola Peltz has carved out a career of her own, having had a job since she was 13.
Following the Gen Z ceremony of the century, we take a look back at the billoinaire heiress’ family life and rich girl inner circle.
Early family life
Born in Westchester County, New York, Peltz attended Rye Country Day school where annual fees range from $42,000 to $50,000 a year. She showed an early interest in ice hockey – inspired by her brother Brad Peltz, 32, who is now a professional ice hockey player – but acquired a talent agent when she was 12 and by the age of 13 was starring in a Manhattan Theatre Club production of Blackbird, alongside Jeff Daniels.
As an aspiring actress, Peltz reportedly would lie on her resume listing elaborate talents, among them bungee jumping, something Peltz had only done once in a mall. Her actual childhood passion was somewhat more pedestrian: animals. At the time the family had twelve dogs – two of which were hers. In an interview with Marie Claire, Peltz shared that her brother Brad once ordered a miniature pig online and was going to hide it in his bedroom. However, upon arrival it soon transpired that it was actually a pet boar, and the two had to donate him to a local farm. To this day Peltz is a big advocate for animal rights, and regularly donates to charities that fight against canine euthanasia.
Her parents, former model Claudia Heffner and billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz married in 1985 and have had eight children – Matthew, 36, Will, 35, Brad, 32, Brittany, 30, Diesel, Nicola, 27, Zach, 19, and Greg, 19. Nicola shares a close bond with her brothers, especially Brad, 32 - the pair regularly appearing on each other’s Instagram profiles. Peltz is extremely family oriented, and even has a Yiddish tattoo (the Peltzes are Jewish) on her ribs which reads “family first”. On her Instagram, she has a saved stories tab dedicated to sharing screenshots of her family group-chat, while Peltz regularly posts loving tributes to her late-grandmother Gina who sadly passed away the night before Peltz’s 25th birthday.
The Peltz family all live luxurious lifestyles thanks to their father’s impressive fortune. Nicola, who now lives in a £22 million mansion in Beverly Hills with Brooklyn, grew up splitting her time between her family’s Palm Beach home and a 27-bedroom mansion in Bedford, New York. Their 130-acre Palm Beach estate once belonged to DeWitt Wallace, the co-founder of Reader’s Digest and boasts an indoor ice rink, flock of albino peacocks and a collection of Old Masters. It was on the grounds of this 44,000 sq ft, Regency-style estate that Peltz’s Jewish wedding ceremony took place.
Rich girl inner circle
As a Hollywood mainstay and billionaire heiress, Peltz counts plenty of A-listers in her inner circle. She’s been best friends with Sofia Richie, Lionel Richie’s youngest daughter, since 2015, and the two are often seen together at fashion shows, meeting for lunch at LA hotspot Mauro’s and going bowling. She’s also regularly seen with the likes of Gigi Hadid (who recommended Peltz for a starring role in then boyfriend, Zayn’s 2016 music video for It’s You) as well as Justin Bieber’s muse Cindy “Wolfie” Kimberly, and Canadian photographer Alison Albright.
An unexpected thing that bonds her friendship group is their shared taste in men. Before meeting her now husband, Brooklyn, Peltz was spotted on a date with Justin Bieber at Maestro’s Steakhouse in Beverley Hills in 2016 (the Canadian singer also dated Sofia Richie and Cindy Kimberley).
As well as Justin Bieber, Peltz has dated Anwar Hadid, Gigi Hadid’s brother. The duo was first seen together at a 2017 New Years Eve party. They went on to date for a year and a half. Peltz also previously dated LANY frontman Paul Klein for seven months, before posting to Instagram: “just wanna tell u guys paul n i went our separate ways but i always wish him all the best!!! all good vibes!” (sic).
Acting ambitions and career so far
Since her film debut in the 2006 Christmas comedy Deck the Halls, the 27-year-old has starred in blockbusters such as The Last Airbender, 2011, which earned her a nomination for the “Worst Supporting Actress” in the Golden Raspberry Awards. She also featured in Transformers: Age of Extinction, 2014, and the A&E drama series Bates Motel, 2013-2015. She has appeared in various music videos for the likes of Miley Cryus and Zayn Malik, and walked Alexander Wang’s last fashion show for Balenciaga at Paris Fashion Week in 2015. All of these feats have helped her acquire an estimated personal net worth of around $50 million.
However, Peltz has previously stated that despite being a successful actress and model, she wants to be described first and foremost as an “intelligent woman”.
As for her future career moves, she plans to flex her creative muscle in behind the camera in the upcoming indie movie Lola James. The film, written by Peltz and co-directed by The Florida Project actress Bria Vinaite, is currently in production in Los Angeles. David Beckham is reportedly a fan, after posting a story of himself wearing film merch to his 72.1 million followers.
