Showing off an impossibly slender body in a little black dress, brunette locks pulled back from her face, the ‘look’ finished off with a pair of designer sunglasses…
You could be forgiven for thinking the woman in our photograph is Victoria Beckham.
Not least because the snap was taken amid the glamorous crush of her son Romeo Beckham’s recent 23rd birthday party.
Yet it’s not Victoria drawing the admiring looks on this occasion, but the beautiful singer-songwriter Jackie Apostel, 29 – who is not just the girlfriend of younger brother Cruz Beckham, 20, but increasingly a dead-ringer for his mum!
The resemblance between the two women is uncanny, with their similar hairstyles and matching slim figures. Like 51-year-old Victoria, Jackie is often seen in work-out gear with a baseball cap. They share similar taste in glitzy evening outfits.
There are even times when half-Brazilian, half-German Jackie perfects the distinctive Posh pout.
I’m told that the two women ‘giggle’ at the comparisons. Both women have a good sense of humour, says friends – as does Cruz, the youngest Beckham boy, who would surely find the idea of his girlfriend looking like his mother rather funny.
It is all the more appropriate, then, that fashionista Posh views Jackie as the ‘perfect muse’ for her successful clothing range.
You could be forgiven for thinking the woman in this photograph is Victoria Beckham… but it’s Cruz’s girlfriend, Jackie Apostel, who is increasingly becoming a dead ringer for her boyfriend’s mum
Even before she had confirmed her romance with Cruz, Jackie was seen at Victoria’s September 2024 show at Paris Fashion Week (just a few months before she and Cruz got together) showing off a beautiful white halter-neck dress from the collection.
Victoria’s fondness for Jackie might come as a surprise to some. After all, many mothers would be sceptical – and probably concerned – at their son dating a woman nearly a decade older than their son, who was just 19 when they got together.
But Beckham family sources insist that Victoria ‘adores’ Jackie and she loves dressing her in outfits she’s designed.
‘Jackie looks amazing in Victoria’s dresses,’ says one.
‘She is like the ideal muse. Cruz is an old soul so wouldn’t be the type to go out with someone his own age, really.
Jackie wearing a beautiful white halter-neck number from Victoria’s collection at Paris Fashion Week in 2024 (left) and Victoria in one of her own designs (right)
‘While many mums might be slightly wary of their son dating a woman nearly ten years older than him, Victoria doesn’t have a problem with it. Cruz is an old head in a young man’s body.’
‘He and Jackie have a great time together,’ said another friend of the family.
‘They have a right laugh, and they are both really into their music.’
Cruz and Jackie were first seen together at Glastonbury in June last year. In September, they were photographed at Paris Fashion Week.
Then, the following month, he confirmed their relationship with a sweet shoutout on Instagram Stories for her birthday.
Jackie has barely missed a Beckham family get-together, unlike Nicola Peltz, who is married to eldest son Brooklyn and has famously fallen out with her parents-in-law.
Victoria in a slinky gown from her own collection at one of husband David’s 50th birthday parties and (right) Jackie in the same navy dress at Paris Fashion Week in 2025
One source close to the Beckhams suggested Nicola would despise the idea of attending such events and might even go as far as to cause a drama with Brooklyn to avoid them.
Jackie and Nicola have only met a handful of times and the two women are ‘very, very different’ according to one associate of the family.
Jackie has even played an important role for David and Victoria as they navigated the devastating estrangement from their eldest child.
David and Victoria haven’t spoken to Brooklyn or his wife of three years, Nicola, 30, since May, when the couple shunned the former England captain’s 50th birthday celebrations.
There has been ‘utter devastation’ in the Beckham clan ever since. There has been no communication from either side apart from the odd text to the wider family.
There was one message to David’s mother, Sandra, on her birthday in June. The pair also wished sister Harper a happy birthday when she turned 14 in July.
The fall-out got worse when Brooklyn and Nicola renewed their wedding vows at her parents’ sprawling mansion in Westchester, just outside New York, last month – but didn’t invite any of the Beckhams.
To rub salt into the wound, the couple shared more than 30 pictures of their big day on Instagram, including one appearing to suggest that Nicola’s father, Nelson, officiated the ceremony.
Despite the many tears and the continuing anxiety, David and Victoria have been forced to accept that their eldest son doesn’t want anything to do with them right now.
‘Nicola has taken him away, she controls him. David and Victoria know they won’t be seeing him anytime soon,’ says one source familiar with the family.
But they need not worry that Cruz will follow suit. I’m told that ‘Jackie causes no problems at all’ and is a ‘fabulous addition to the gang’.
Jackie was at Cruz’s side as he watched his once-close relationship with Brooklyn crumble away – showing his loyalty to David and Victoria amid the rift.
Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola, were missing from David’s 50th birthday celebrations. The former England captain is pictured in Miami at one of his parties, with two of his sons, his daughter, Harper, and Jackie (right)
The fall-out got worse when Brooklyn and Nicola (pictured with Victoria and Cruz, left) renewed their wedding vows at her parents’ sprawling mansion in Westchester, just outside New York, last month – but didn’t invite any of the Beckhams
She was also a mainstay of the birthday celebrations – wearing a VB frock, of course – when David threw a huge bash at the family’s £10million home in Great Tew, Oxfordshire to mark his 50th.
She also joined the family on an opulent trip to France, where they visited a vineyard in Bordeaux before spending the night in Paris.
Jackie was the belle of the ball – again in one of Posh’s frocks – for David’s birthday meal at Notting Hill restaurant, Core.
One friend tells me: ‘Unlike Nicola she’s chilled, she’s cool. She has actually helped by being so much fun as the whole family imploded after David’s birthday.
‘She is a joy to be around. But what’s so lovely is that Victoria and David enjoy her company too. She’s become a bit of a stalwart. She loves going to Beckham family events and gets really involved.
‘The wider family loves her too, she just fits in. She’s a breath of fresh air.’
Which of course raises a key question: will Jackie become a Beckham in name, rather than remaining just an honorary one?
‘Who knows if she will be around long-term?’ says a family source.
‘But Cruz is so in love with her so you wouldn’t bet against it.’
Maybe Jackie’s wedding dress would be one that Victoria really should get her sewing machine out for.