JEFF Brazier revealed how Jade Goody only told their sons about her cancer one week before she died. The presenter, 39, had two children with Jade – Bobby, now aged 16, and Freddie, 14, before she passed away in 2009. Opening up about his late ex while chatting to Giovanna Fletcher for her podcast Happy […]
JEFF Brazier revealed how Jade Goody only told their sons about her cancer one week before she died.
The presenter, 39, had two children with Jade – Bobby, now aged 16, and Freddie, 14, before she passed away in 2009.
Opening up about his late ex while chatting to Giovanna Fletcher for her podcast Happy Mum Happy Baby, Jeff recalled how he prepared the boys, who were five and four at the time, for the worst.
He revealed: “She did ring me and said that she had cancer.
“At that point I didn’t immediately think that she’s not going to be here, because I had such faith and conviction in the fact that if anyone was going to beat cancer it would be Jade.
“Just simply for the fact that she didn’t mess around, if she wanted something then she got it. Cancer doesn’t really play by those rules, clearly.”
However, despite learning about Jade’s diagnosis when she found out, Jeff and Jade had decided to tell their sons as much information as they needed at each stage.
Jeff explained: “Nothing was said to the boys at the time. I guess it wasn’t until her health deteriorated further, because it was physically apparent to the boys, that it was then we had to introduce the fact that mummy wasn’t well. Obviously with the hospital visits it meant that she needed to escalate that and that’s what we did the whole way through.
“When it took a step in whichever direction, but obviously it was always a turn for the worse, we kind of had to give them an explanation that a four and a five year old would understand because otherwise our concern was that they would make up their own minds as to what’s going on and it will create more fear.
“I think a lot of the time an assumption is probably more harmful than fact, even though facts are rubbish.”
Giovanna later questioned how Jeff had managed to go against his instinct as a parent to just tell his children that “everything was going to be ok”.
He explained: “It defies every instinct that we have in parenting and as much as those moments where you are delivering that information, especially the last moments, where she said, ‘I’m going to be leaving and going to heaven’.
“That was the hardest conversation that anyone could ever have with their child. It’s disgraceful that she had to do that, not disgraceful because there was another way – there wasn’t.
“That was absolutely the right thing to do because it meant that the kids could start processing.
“The processing of loss is something that is still ongoing – from the minute that she said it ten years ago really, until this day.”
Praising Jade, he admitted: “That’s strength. To tell the truth and to actually be able to say, not just for her benefit, but for theirs as well.
“She needed to say that for them. It was the most selfless thing that I think I have ever seen anyone do.
“It gave them a chance to be able to start processing the moment, even though they went off into the playroom and carried on playing like nothing had happened. It was love.
“It was her loving them enough to say I’m going to say the hardest thing that’s ever passed my lips and I’m going to say it even though it’s going to probably effect me emotionally, psychologically, it’s going to take me to another stage of where I’m at. I’m going to tell you what the truth is now because soon it’s going to become a reality.”
Jeff revealed that Jade lost her battle while he was away with the boys on the X Factor tour.
“I think I knew actually, that I was going to wake up to a text and I did. I woke up to some missed calls and we flew straight back.
“My only real responsibility at that time was to tell the boys that it had happened and that mum had gone off to heaven or whatever story we had told them. I needed to make sure that it ran seamlessly.”
The second part of Channel 4’s documentary about the tragic star will hit our screens tonight, offering fans a personal insight into Jade’s life before her devastating death in 2009.
Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain continues tonight at 9pm on Channel 4
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