Beckham defends kissing daughter Harper on the lips

David Beckham has hit back at people who blasted him and his wife for kissing their five-year-old daughter on the lips.

The 42-year-old former football star posted a picture to his Instagram account last month of him and Harper sharing an adorable daddy-daughter kiss in front of an African sunset.

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And while David may have captioned the snap “Kiss for Daddy”, a selection of his 1.7 million followers saw the kiss as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘wrong’.

Now, Beckham has hit back , claiming he kisses all of his kids on the lips to show them how much he loves them.

“I’m very affectionate with the kids,” he told The Sun.

“It’s how I was brought up and Victoria, and it’s how we are with our children.

“We want to show our kids love and we protect them, look after them, and support them, and we’re very affectionate with them.”

At the time, a handful of fans of the star slammed the photo on Instagram.

“David, to kiss lips of your daughter that’s wrong,” wrote one person.

“I just think she’s a little too old for that is all,” another person said.

David also had plenty of support from those who deemed the kiss sweet “beautiful”.

“Ignore the people that have a problem with it. Nothing wrong with showing your children affection…” one person wrote.

“I have always kissed my children on the lips. They are now in their mid 20s. All 3 of them and we still kiss on the lips. Nothing wrong with it at all….” Another person said.

David’s wife Victoria Beckham stirred up similar controversy in July when she posted an Instagram photo on Harper’s birthday featuring the mother and daughter kissing in a swimming pool.

Comments on the post ranged from “beautiful” to “Ew.”

Other celebs who have faced wrath for their parental displays of affection include Hillary Duff who in December posted an Instagram shot of herself kissing son Luca, 4, at Disneyland.