How brave Freddie and Bobby Brazier have thrived despite heartbreaking loss of mum Jade Goody
AS Bobby Brazier swaggered down the catwalk in Milan on Saturday, it was clear Jade Goody’s first-born son had made his dreams come true. But the 16-year-old Dolce & Gabbana model, along with little brother Freddie, 15, has had a painful journey to get where he is today after losing his mum in 2009. The […]
AS Bobby Brazier swaggered down the catwalk in Milan on Saturday, it was clear Jade Goody’s first-born son had made his dreams come true.
But the 16-year-old Dolce & Gabbana model, along with little brother Freddie, 15, has had a painful journey to get where he is today after losing his mum in 2009.
The boys were just four and five years old when Jade began her terminal battle with cervical cancer in 2008.
When she died on Mother’s Day the following year, aged just 27, she was buried in her wedding dress along with two photographs — one of each of her boys.
But the young brothers weren’t at the funeral in Buckhurst Hill, Essex because their dad, Jeff Brazier, and grandmother, Jackiey Budden, thought the burial would be too traumatic for them.
Instead they spent that harrowing day with their father carrying out their own ceremony on a beach in Australia.
Back in London, the streets were lined with 5,000 mourners watching the procession -and even the likes of Michael Jackson and Gordon Brown paid tribute to Jade.
“Supporting Bobby and Freddie has very much been a team effort, Jeff has been incredible but even he would credit family, friends and his wife Kate and her family for helping the boys through some of the darker times,” a source close to the family told Sun Online.
“While the boys are doing incredibly well, obviously it’s not been a walk in the park. It’s an ongoing process and like anyone with teenage children, there are ups and downs and all manner of emotions which makes adolescence ten times worse when they’re holding on to grief and the loss of their mum.”
But in spite of their terrible loss, the devastation at the death of their mum hasn’t held them back.
Model sons
“Six months ago I said give me three years I’ll be doing fashion week,” Bobby wrote on Instagram at the weekend just hours after appearing on the catwalk in Milan.
“Thank you Dolce & Gabbana! Dream come true tonight, I’m buzzin!”
Bobby’s starring appearance on the catwalk came after it was revealed he’d signed with the modelling agency Unsigned Group in October 2019 after he was approached by several companies.
“Modelling has been great fun, I’m loving it: you get a chance to do something exciting,” Bobby said last month.
“I’m modelling alongside my apprenticeship; I’m not sure if it will be full time yet, we will have to see how it goes.”
Bobby’s time in the limelight came after proud dad Jeff shared pictures of him and revealed his eldest son’s plan to become a DJ.
And the delighted dad has also spoken out publicly about his pride for his other son, Freddie, sharing pictures of them in Ibiza together last year.
Jeff said he was having a “wonderful time with Fred” while they avoided the broadcasting of a documentary about Jade .
Pals of the family know Jeff goes the extra mile to support Bobby and Freddie at emotionally challenging times.
“All Jeff ever has cared about was their happiness,” our source said.
“His priority was making sure the boys could always talk about or show their pain and loss, and it would never be taboo they would tackle it together, the three of them.”
Heartbreaking loss
When Jade knew she was going to die, her and Jeff wrote a script for the boys to help them cope with the loss.
They said that Jade was going to become a star in the sky that they would always be able to see.
On the night she passed away, Jeff said he didn’t know how to tell them their mum was gone.
“I waited until bedtime and called them outside [into the garden],” Jeff said.
“In the end I didn’t need to say anything because the stars were out and they said: ‘Is that one mummy?’
“They knew.”
‘Mummy’s Day’
To this day, Jeff has continued to encourage Bobby and Freddie to talk about Jade and remember her, even if it’s painful.
It’s even claimed that the three of them dedicate a single day around the 15th of every month to her memory.
“They call it ‘Mummy’s Day’,” our source says.
“They’d do something fun, be it trampolining or mini golf, go-karting, and dedicate the day to Jade.
“It doesn’t always have to be tears on the day — Jeff believed in marking the day in a positive way. And it looks to have worked, to keep Jade’s memory as a happy one.”
The pal says the boys have spent lots of time with Jade’s mum Jackie watching old videos of Jade together.
“They’d love watching her fitness DVD,” our source says.
“That was a treasured time as Jade was always laughing and joking on camera and in a small way they had their mum back to life.”
Painful anniversaries
But even with their monthly remembrances, there will always be some special occasions when they’re particularly thinking of Jade.
Their friend says on certain days like Christmas or Mother’s Day — the anniversary of Jade’s death — they’ll head to beauty spots like Brighton Beach and release balloons in her memory.
And their step-mum, PR director Kate Dwyer, is said to be a big part of helping the boys with their grief.
“One Christmas they all got into the freezing cold sea to set off the balloons, Jeff’s then girlfriend and now wife, Kate, got in too as a sign of support,” their friend said.
“While things are touch and go with them right now, for years her and her family helped give the boys the stable, loving family environment every kid deserves.
“Kate was integral in listening and loving them and making a safe environment and home, she completed the family.”
‘How will I cope?’
But the challenge to support Bobby and Freddie has, if anything, only gotten harder in recent years, their friend claims.
And the public eye being on Bobby as a celebrity his own right is bound to add to the pressure.
“The grief is still there and will always be a part of them, Jeff knows that – he’s found it harder to know how to support them as they’ve become teenagers,” our source says.
“He has fought to keep them out of the public eye, he didn’t let them watch the recent documentary about Jade – he’s still fiercely protective, but that’s helped them feel secure and loved too even though it’s caused arguments between them.
“He even trained as a grief therapist so that he knew best how to help his boys.”
In fact, Jeff even went so far as to write The Grief Survival Guide drawing on his own experiences of caring for his boys and himself in his grief.
“I’m the 29-year-old that had six months to prepare two infants for the incomprehensible whilst coming to terms with an unimaginable change of reality,” Jeff wrote on his website.
“I asked myself, ‘How will I cope?! But I still feel like I’m practically a child? How do I compensate for the irreplaceable?'”
Last year, on the tenth anniversary of their mum’s death, Freddie and Bobby took the opportunity to “remember joyfully”, and raise money for charity.
The teenage boys put on a quiz night for their friends and family which raised cash for Marie Curie — a non-profit organisation which gives care and support for people with terminal illnesses and their loved ones.
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And despite all of the difficulties the young brothers have faced in the last decade, people who know them say they’ve continued to thrive thanks to the love and support they’ve had from their friends and family.
“It’s not at all rosy all the time, they’ve moved four times since Jade died, and Jeff did all he could to ensure the boys were secure, had friends and were happy,” our source says.
“They get through it as best they can and the boys are a credit to both Jade and Jeff.”