England captain David Beckham blasted the "sad" writer at a German tabloid who described his sister as "Fat-ham" and his mother as having the "smile of a peasant," a British daily reported on Wednesday.
"There are certain times when people criticize me as a footballer. But when they do things to my family, it is something I do not accept and never will," Beckham said after Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper lampooned his family.
Beckham, quoted by The Sun newspaper, the biggest-selling paper in Britain, added: "The person who did this - criticizing my mother, my sister and my children - he must be sad.
"A sad person sitting there in a room thinking of something to try to put me off my next game," Beckham was quoted as saying.
"I am not going to let him do that and I am not going to accept it. There are some sad people out there," he said.
Bild, Germany's top selling newspaper, published its article after the entire Beckham family decamped to Frankfurt to watch England's opening World Cup match against Paraguay on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}Bild, Germany's top selling newspaper, published its article after the entire Beckham family decamped to Frankfurt to watch England's opening World Cup match against Paraguay on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}Beckham's 24-year-old sister Joanne came in for especially harsh treatment in the full-page spread accompanied by color photographs.
"Dear me, is she chubby. Arms, bust, bum, all very British. Joanne is the sort of girl who drinks sangria on the beach in Majorca. And then dances on a table with her top off," said the paper.
The Real Madrid star, who earns an estimated 17 million pounds (32 million dollars) a year, flew his relatives to Frankfurt in a private jet.
Bild described his mother Sandra, 50, as the "superstar's mum with the smile of a peasant".