Victoria Beckham is leading the support for singer Sir Elton John and his family in the wake of comments made by fashion designers Dolce and Gabbana which branded children born via IVF as 'synthetic'.
Mother-of-four Victoria, 40, offered her support to Sir Elton, who has two sons with his husband with the help of a surrogate and artificial insemination, after he launched a campaign to snub the D&G brand.
Sir Elton, 67, is encouraging people to #BoycottDolceGabbana after the Italian designers behind the brand - Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana – dismissed gay adoption as unnatural.
Victoria, who formerly served as an ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana, responded to Sir Elton's outcry on Twitter with: 'Sending love to Elton David Zachary Elijah & all the beautiful IVF babies x vb.'
Victoria and her husband David, 39, used to be friendly with Dolce and Gabbana and the former Spice Girl was even announced as the British ambassador for the brand in 2003.
She was regularly photographed in the Italian powerhouse's designs and often spotted partying in nightclubs around the world with the fashionistas. Both David and Victoria also regularly sported D&G designs, and both wore outfits by the brand to the MTV Video Music Awards in 2003.
However, more recently the Beckhams have become good friends with Sir Elton and David Furnish, 52, often socialising together at both public events and in private at each other's homes.
The Beckhams even attended the couple's wedding last year and their eldest son Brooklyn, 16, is also Sir Elton's godson, with the family adoringly referring to the award-winning singer as 'Uncle Elton'.
Both Victoria and David are also named patrons of Sir Elton's non-profit organisation, AIDS Foundation, and the couple regularly attend the annual gala in aid of the charity.
In October last year, Victoria even missed the opening of her first ever store, situated in Mayfair's trendy Dover Street, to travel Soweto, South Africa, for the charity.
At the time, she said: '[Sir] Elton is a very dear friend of mine and David’s and we’ve been patrons of the Elton John AIDS Foundation for 20 years so I have been working a lot with lots of AIDS charities.
'It’s why I realise I have to step forward and do whatever I can do. I want to get to know the women and understand them. It was life changing when I went to South Africa.'
In recent years, Victoria has carved out her own highly successful career as a fashion designer - winning over critics at fashion shows around the world.
Her success has previously provoked reaction from Dolce & Gabbana, who claimed last year: 'She's a designer but…for us, she don't make clothes the same way like a fashion designer.'
Victoria did not use the #BoycottDolceGabbana in her message of support for Sir Elton, but a host of other celebrities were quick to join the campaign.
Ricky Martin, the gay singer whose twin sons were carried by a surrogate mother, wrote: 'Your voices are too powerful to be spreading too much hate. Wake up, it's 2015. Love yourself guys.'
Entertainer John Barrowman MBE said: 'I just read the article. @dolcegabbana sound IGNORANT and STUPID. I agree with @eltonjohndotcom #BoycottDolceGabbana'
Comedian Matt Lucas said: 'Just read Dolce and Gabbana's weird, bigoted comments about raising kids. Ugh, those guys are so creepy.'
Courtney Love said: Just round up all my Dolce & Gabbana pieces, I want to burn them. I'm just beyond words and emotions. Boycott senseless bigotry! #boycottD&G'
Ryan Murphy, the creator of TV show Glee, added: 'These designers' horrifying views are never in fashion. Their clothes are as ugly as their hate.'
And former tennis star Martina Navratilova, who married her female partner in December, said: 'Wow - I had no idea. It will be interesting to see if this ridiculousness hurts them in the bank.'
Sharon Stone, who has three adopted children, also told E! News: 'We must meet this type of cruelty towards children who are in need and want homes and families with love and open homes.'
Meanwhile, gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell joined the campaign for a boycott, telling The Guardian: 'It's quite outrageous that two gay fashion designers who have relied on the gay community for much of their success are opposing gay equality.'
Sir Elton launched the campaign to boycott the Italian fashion designers with an Instagram post yesterday.
Posting a picture of the designers – who were a couple for 23 years – Sir Elton wrote: 'How dare you refer to my beautiful children as 'synthetic'.
'And shame on you for wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF – a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children.
'Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana.'
His comments came after Mr Dolce told Italian magazine Panorama that procreation 'should be an act of love', adding: 'You are born and you have a father and mother.
'At least it should be like that. That's why I'm not convinced by what I call chemical children, synthetic babies.
'They are wombs for hire, semen chosen from a catalogue. And then you have to explain to these children who their mother is.'
Asked whether he wanted to be a father, Mr Dolce said: 'I am gay. I cannot have a child. I don't believe that you can have everything in life.'
Mr Gabbana added: 'The family is not a fad. It is a supernatural sense of belonging.'
Yesterday, the row escalated as Mr Gabbana posted a picture of Sir Elton on Instagram and wrote: 'Who wants to see him dressed in Dolce & Gabbana?'
He also shared an image of a mother and child, writing: 'We live in a democratic country and respect for the ideas of others is essential.'
He later said in a statement: 'We believe firmly in democracy and we think freedom of expression is essential for that.
'We talked about our way of seeing reality, but it was never our intention to judge other people's choices. We do believe in freedom and love.'
Mr Dolce added that his views were informed by his Roman Catholic upbringing in a traditional Sicilian family 'made up of a mother, a father and children.'
He continued: 'I am very well aware of the fact that there are other types of families and they are as legitimate at the one I've known.'
Dr Gillian Lockwood of the Midland Fertility Centre said she was 'speechless' at the Italians' comments. She said: 'If there's anything more 'synthetic' than Dolce and Gabbana I don't know what it is.'
The designers have always opposed gay marriage, but have previously spoken of their desire to have children - in a 2005 interview, Mr Gabbana said that 'of course' he would want to become a father.The sister of Louise Brown, the world's first 'test tube baby', called their views 'shocking'. Natalie Brown, 32, said: 'They are small minded, pathetic little people.'
The following year, he revealed that he had asked a female friend to be a surrogate mother to his children, but added: 'I am opposed to the idea of a child growing up with two gay parents.
'A child needs a mother and a father. I could not imagine my childhood without my mother. I also believe that it is cruel to take a baby away from its mother.'
Sir Elton married long-term partner David Furnish in December. Their sons Zachary and Elijah are four and two.
The singer's previous spats include one with Madonna, whom he called a 'fairground stripper'.
The billionaire fashion duo with an A-list clientele who were a couple for 23 years
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana came from modest backgrounds to become two of the richest men in Italy.
Dolce, 56, was born near Palermo, Sicily, where his father was a tailor and his mother worked in a shop selling fabric and clothes.
He met Gabbana, 52 – who was born in Milan to a factory worker father and laundress mother – in a club in the early 1980s.
Dolce helped his friend find a job with him working for designer Giorgio Correggiari, and their friendship blossomed into a relationship.
They moved in together in 1983 and founded Dolce & Gabbana fashion house in 1985. Their big break then came in 1993 when Madonna signed them to design costumes for her Girlie tour – including her famous black beaded bra.
The pair ended their relationship after more than 20 years in 2005, admitting they had 'been drifting apart for five years'.
But they remained business partners, with Gabbana describing his friend as 'my family' after the break-up.
They revealed in a 2010 interview that they lived in identical apartments one floor above the other in the same building in Milan.
They also own luxury homes in France and London, as well as hosting lavish parties on their yacht in Monaco.
In 2013 the businessmen joined Bloomberg's prestigious Billionaires' Index, with Dolce's net worth estimated at $2.2billion (£1.5billion) and Gabbana's at around $2.1billion.
They were also acquitted of tax evasion by Italy's highest court in October last year, which overruled decisions by two lower courts to hand them a 20-month suspended sentence for failing to pay tax on around 200million euros (£142million).
They were accused of funnelling funds through a firm in Luxembourg, but following their acquittal issued a statement saying: 'We have always been honest.'
Their brand remains a celebrity favourite and has been worn by A-listers including Kylie Minogue, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
The How I Met your Mother actor and his partner David Burtka have four-year-old fraternal twins - Gideon Scott, a boy, and Harper Grace, a girl.
The process involved two embryos, one for each of them – and a surrogate who Burtka said was 'more like the oven.'
Both men knew the surrogate, but the egg donor - who they found through a donation bank and thus were able to research her personal and medical history - was anonymous. Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris and his partner have both said they have 'no interest' in learning which twin is their biological child.
Matt Bomer and Simon Halls
White Collar actor Matt Bomer and his partner Simon Halls have three son, including a set of twins, all born via a surrogate mother.
The actor Bomer publicly acknowledged that he was gay, in 2012 when he thanked Simon Halls and their children during his Steve Chase Humanitarian Award's acceptance speech.
Ricky Martin
The singer has six-year-old twins Matteo and Valentino and he has revealed that he would love to have a little girl.
After his sons were born in 2008 via a surrogate he opened up about his sexuality.
He split in January last year from his longtime partner Carlos Gonzalez Abella.
Tom Ford and Richard Buckley
Fashion designer Tom Ford has a two-year-old son Alexander with his long-term partner Richard Buckley.
The baby is believed to have been born via a surrogate and the designer has affectionately described him as a 'genius'.
The couple met when Ford was just 25 and Mr Buckley, the former Editor in Chief of Vogue Hommes International, was 38.
Mary Portas and Melanie Rickey
Queen of Shops star Mary Portas revealed last month that the genetic father of her young son Horatio is in fact her brother.
Miss Portas and her civil partner Melanie Rickey had previously kept their sperm donor's identity anonymous.
Miss Rickey, 42, gave birth to the couple's first child in 2012 following IVF treatment. They had desperately wanted Miss Portas, 54, to also have a genetic link to their child.
Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni
The Sex and the City star has two children, Samantha and Charles, from her long-term relationship with English professor Danny Mozes.
The couple split in 2003 and since then she has dated education activist Christine Marinoni.
Ms Marinoni have birth to the couple's son Max in 2011, but they kept tight-lipped about the identity of the biological father.
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