Photo: Instagram
The nannies were reportedly pushed to their limits.
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on Aug 26, 2022
The family of Nicola Peltz's former nanny is addressing rumors that she terrorized staff as a teen.
Peltz, who married Brooklyn Beckham earlier this year, is the daughter of billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz and, along with her family, has been accused of mistreating staff — according to a series of reports from 2009.
Peltz and Brooklyn, the eldest son of David and Victoria Beckham, may seem like a sweet couple but the allegations painted a very different picture of the "The Last Airbender" actress.
Nicola Peltz was reportedly abusive to her nannies as a teenager.
In 2009, "Gawker" claimed that the Peltz household was a "House Of Horrors" for staff — particularly nannies.
Nelson Peltz and Nicola's mother, the former model Claudia Peltz, share six children. Nelson also has two from his previous marriage.
The Peltz family lived in a mansion that covers 130 acres and has 27 rooms in Bedford, New York. In addition, the estate includes a waterfall, a lake and an indoor hockey rink.
It may be no surprise that the couple would need help around the house and with their kids — though it is reported that they had a hard time keeping staff.
"Peltz's youngest daughter routinely threatens maids that she will have her father fire them if they don't do as she asks," Gawker reported at the time.
"She's hardly bluffing. Her last nanny was reportedly hauled out of the house by two beefy bodyguards after the girl decided she didn't care much for her."
The actress, who would have been 13 or 14 at the time has also been said to have abused the other staff in her house such as butlers or maids "as a sport."
The Peltz family reportedly had a lot of strict rules for staff members.
One of the rules that Claudia allegedly enforced upon the staff is for them to bring their own food for the day. They aren’t allowed to eat anything from the house, even if it’s leftovers.
According to reports, if staff were caught eating food that would have gone in the trash they were heavily scolded.
The reports also claims that, in one particularly harsh incident, Claudia called a butler to clean up drops of urine she noticed on a toilet seat.
"It was only after he'd cleaned the seat four times — 'once more for luck,' she said — that Mrs. Peltz, perhaps detecting some frustration on the butler's part, informed him that she didn't like his attitude and dismissed him. It was Easter Sunday," Gawker wrote.
Some of the Peltz's nannies were rumored to have been suicidal at some point.
An internet user posted on Reddit about how some of the nannies had been terrorized to a point of having suicidal thoughts.
They also mentioned the terrible things Nicola has done. Nicola made her nannies work to the core and made them do unpleasant things.
She would then have them fired at the end of the week and repeat the whole process with a new maid the week after.
The user wrote, “There was also apparently at least one incident where she pushed a nanny down the stairs.”
However, the user doesn't appear to cite a source for these claims.
The family of Nicola Peltz's nanny denied the reports.
While Gawker doesn't name the nanny or maids in question, the family of Maria Rosalina Sampaio, who was affectionately known as Gina, claimed that the Brazilian woman had nothing but good things to say about her time working as a maid and nanny for the Peltz family before her death in 2020.
"The relationship was amazing. Gina was like a mother to Nicola and she was like her daughter," Sampaio's nephew tells The Daily Mail.
Nicola would even visit Sampaio in Brazil after she retired from her work with the family.
Nicola's love for Sampaio was reportedly so strong that Brooklyn Beckham even has a tattoo of her name beside a rose on his arm.
When Sampaio passed away on the night before Nicola's 25th birthday in 2020, the actress wrote a gushing tribute for her on Instagram saying, "Gina was a second mother to me, my love for her was never ending [and] overflowing."
Other staff members have spoken up against the Peltz family.
One of their former drivers sued the Peltz family after they fired him. He stated that the family fired him right after he woke up from a coma.
Adrian Barrie Smith, a recruiter of housekeeping staff for wealthy families, admitted to being the source in the original Gawker article after he was accused by the Peltz family lawyers of fabricating the claims.
He insists that he did not make up the allegations and claims he came forward with the report because the Peltz's did not pay his contract.
Sanika Nalgirkar, M.F.A. is a writer who covers entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.