Jeff Brazier opens up about raising his two sons after the loss of their mum Jade Goody
Jeff has sons Freddie and Bobby.
Last updated 27th Jan 2021
Jeff Brazier has opened up about the effects of losing his former partner Jade Goody on his mental health and how he continues to raise their children.
Jeff’s former partner, reality TV star Jade Goody, died of cancer aged 27, leaving Jeff to raise their two sons, Bobby and Freddie, alone since 2009. Jeff also experienced tragedy very young, when his father, the skipper of the doomed Marchionness, died when Jeff was just 10 years old.
Jeff has met his life’s challenges with extraordinary resilience and determination. He retrained as a life coach, qualified as a grief counsellor, and wrote a book called ‘The Grief Survival Guide’.
In a brand-new mental health podcast ‘Only Human’, which aims to provide a safe space to discuss difficult subjects and issues surrounding mental health, the TV presenter opened up about being a single parent through lockdown.
The pandemic has been particularly challenging as parents take on the role of teachers whilst home-schooling, and Jeff shared his struggle with his youngest son Freddie, who is in his GCSE year.
He said, “Freddie has never loved school. He's not particularly academic. But I know that Freddie has some incredible traits and I know that his future will be absolutely wonderful, just simply because of his depth of emotional intelligence. And his caringness and consideration for others, that's all through the roof. So I know that he's going to be absolutely fine and be able to carve out whatever he wants to do.”
An active advocate for better mental health, Jeff is on a mission to make life easier for others. In the podcast Jeff talks honestly about his experiences, uses his insights to help listeners with their dilemmas, and assists us all to find the humour in life’s trials.
“I think there's a lot of podcasts out there that are wonderful in helping us aspire to be high performers, high achievers. But I also know that there are a lot of people out there who would just like to be okay and just be able to cope - and that be enough.
“So, really, I hope to merge the two and give people a platform to be able to ask questions whereby we don't just answer the questions and give advice and opinions but maybe a little bit of perspective and maybe just a conversation around these difficult subjects that probably a lot of us are facing at the moment, so wanting to be there for one another."
You can listen to 'Only Human' via our friends at Absolute Radio or where you usually get your podcasts.