David Beckham and Mark Wahlberg have had a history together long before the pair had legal trouble with one another.
After Beckham and his family moved to Los Angeles and brought the paparazzi with them, Wahlberg commented that it disturbed the neighborhood’s peace.
“I’m not telling Beckham to take his family home. I’m just not sure why he came to America in the first place,” Wahlberg told Daily Mail in 2009. “Man, we don’t want your soccer. There’s no way Americans are going to buy the idea of 90 minutes of running around without much happening. Thanks for trying guys, but we’ll stick to baseball and basketball.”
Years later, the pair were seemingly on good terms when Beckham agreed to serve as the global ambassador for F45 Training, which Wahlberg partially owns. But in April 2024, Us Weekly confirmed that Beckham’s DB Ventures company filed a lawsuit against F45, claiming the company owes him at least $10 million.
Scroll down to revisit Beckham and Wahlberg’s history:
December 2009
“Man, the Beckhams. It used to be so quiet on my road,” Wahlberg told Daily Mail. “Then David moves in with his family. Suddenly we’ve got paparazzi hanging out day and night. Now they’ll follow any car that drives down the road. I take strong exception to that kind of thing. When I take my kids to the park I don’t want strangers sticking their lenses into our faces.”
He continued: “Where I come from it’s not considered wise to follow people around like that unless you’re looking for serious trouble. When that happens I start thinking, ‘Either I’m going to get that guy or he’s going to get me.’”
After his 2009 comment, Wahlberg shared that he wanted to ensure there was no bad blood between him and Beckham.
“He wanted me to email him about something – I don’t know if it was a film. I had said something, half joking, because his house is at the bottom of our hill and a lot of people hang around the area. So I said something like, ‘I don’t like him being here because of that,’” Wahlberg told The Sun, per Daily Mail. “I met him and some of his sons and he seems like a nice guy … I wanted to make sure he hadn’t taken that [remark] personally.”
August 2021
Beckham agreed to serve as F45’s global ambassador. “I’ve been a fan of the F45 franchise and training model since being introduced by my friend, Mark Wahlberg,” he said during a press release at the time.
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August 2022
Beckham and Wahlberg posed for a snap together during a trip to Canada. “Great few days in Muskoka with family and friends ❤️ wow what a place and yes we laughed a lot & drank a little @markwahlberg @jamiejsalter @tie_domi THE BEST,” Beckham captioned an Instagram post at the time.
April 2024
Beckham claimed in the court docs that F45 had “duped” him into signing an endorsement deal. (He first filed the federal lawsuit in May 2023.)
Beckham alleged that he never received the $10 million he was offered during contract negotiations and claimed he was promised stocks as compensation, which were not given to him.
Wahlberg’s lawyers slammed Beckham’s claims, calling the “fraudulent conduct” accusations baseless in a motion to dismiss, per The Sun.
