Jeff Brazier: My boys still struggle with the loss of their mother Jade Goody
Brazier has told in an emotional interview about his family’s life after the death of Jade Goody in 2009.
Jeff Brazier has told how his two sons have said they wished he had died instead of their mother Jade Goody, but that he knows it was a cry for help from them.
The presenter raised Bobby, 13, and Freddie, 12, as a single parent after the Big Brother star died of cervical cancer in 2009 at the age of 27.
Brazier told The Sun the boys are still struggling with their loss.
“My expectation was always that they’d take things out on me, but I didn’t know to what extent.
“I didn’t know as they grew older, what would be possible to come out of their mouths.
“The words they come out with, they’re not always in control of and they’re just saying them because what they’re actually trying to say is ‘Dad, help me’.
“I know I shouldn’t be just hearing the words, I should be diving out of the way of them and recognising where they come from — and know there is a great need for me to look after that feeling of anger.”
— Jeff Brazier (@JeffBrazier) May 30, 2017
But he said in the immediate aftermath he shut people out.
“Battening down the hatches was my coping mechanism,” he said.
“What mattered to me more that anything was that I did everything I could to be there for the boys and their grief. So I stopped socialising with friends, stopped ringing people.
Brazier also expressed his sympathy for those affected by the terror attack in Manchester and said he hopes they are bolstered by the public support.
“There are no words for those families,” he said. “My only hope amidst this unfathomable reality is that they draw strength from the solidarity that the nation has shown.
“I know only too well that this public support and love will gradually ebb away, but their sadness, the unthinkable loss will remain.”
