Jeff Brazier has opened up about the realities of coping with grief – insisting the more you talk about any issue, be it loss to mental health in general, it will slowly start to get better.
The star, who has released mental health podcast Only Human to help those struggling in lockdown, has said a decade on he still feels a responsibility to keep his ex Jade Goody’s memory alive.
In 2009, Jade – mother to his two boys Bobby, 17 and Freddie, 16 – tragically passed away from cancer aged just 27 years old, prompting one of the biggest public funerals a British reality star has ever been given.
As thousands lined the streets to pay their respects, Jeff took their two young boys to Australia in a bid to help them come to terms with the loss in private.
While cameras swarmed the funeral, Jeff and his children sent a message in a bottle up to mummy in the sky on the other side of the world.
Jade Goody tragically passed away from cancer in 2009 (Image: PA)
Since then, the presenter has made sure they talk regularly about all loss – not just Jade’s – during private family moments.
Jeff said: “When kids are teenagers they dictate to you a little bit more as they are not as good at opening up as they are when they are younger.
“It makes it a little bit harder. You can’t just scratch something, you have to go in a little bit and it means you adapt the way you go about giving them the opportunities to speak.
Jade Goody and Jeff Brazier pose for cameras in 2003 (Image: PA)
“They are old enough to find their own opportunities in some respects and I have to remember that it is not always what they want put on them to talk about it once a month.
“We do genuinely have a way of kind of knowing when to talk about any of our losses, not just Jade.
“There are other family members who we have also lost and are equally as important – not for the kids as their mum is their all and everything, but for me.”
Going into detail, Jeff said: “I do things like driving to my granddad’s house.
Like what you see? Then fill your boots…
There’s MUCH more where that came from! Want all the jaw-dropping stories from the world of showbiz and up to the minute news from TV and soaps?
Well, we’ve got you covered with our showbiz, TV and soaps newsletters – they’ll drop straight into your inbox and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.
We’ll bring you the inside track from telly expert Ed Gleave and soap specialist Sasha Morris. Oh, and your daily fix of Piers, Katie Price, Demi Rose and all your other Daily Star favs.
You can sign up here – you won’t regret it…
“He’s not there anymore but just to sit in that environment and allow those memories to come back in and the conversations it leads to.
“We do all of that for each other.
“There are so many ways you can deal with grief. You can prompt a conversation in loads of ways.
“It’s about, are you having the conversation and is it enough for you as a family?”
Jeff added: “For me I will go so far as I feel there is a responsibility for me to keep her memory alive, for everyone, not just necessarily of the boys.
Jeff Brazier is keen to help those who may be struggling via his new podcast Only Human
“But then there are the conversations in the public eye and the reality, and the two are often very different.”
Daily Star previously revealed how Jeff is happy for his sons to talk publicly about the loss of their mother, but isn’t pushing them to do so.
Talking about Bobby’s desire to carve out a career in modelling, proud dad Jeff said: “I think he was really happy with modelling before the lockdown.
“We have had this conversation countless occasions within our house, that it is important to have a skill and something that you are actually being spoken of, because of, as opposed to who your mum and dad are.
“That is really important to him and I have been hitting him with that one from a very young age.
“If he ever wants to talk about his mum that is at his own discretion.”
Jeff Brazier – Only Human is available to download every Tuesday from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the Absolute Radio app, absoluteradio.co.uk, and all mainstream podcast providers.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
