Jeff Brazier has admitted he ‘feels responsible’ for guiding his two sons through their grief after the death of their mum Jade Goody.
The presenter, 41, spoke candidly about marking an ’emotional’ Mother’s Day with sons Bobby, 17, and Freddie, 16, on Sunday, 12 years after Jade died following a battle with cervical cancer.
Speaking on his podcast Only Human, Jeff also said he helps his sons through the anniversary of Jade’s death by encouraging them to remember her as much as they can, whether that be visiting her favourite places or looking at pictures.
Candid: Jeff Brazier has admitted he ‘feels responsible’ for guiding his two sons Bobby, 17, and Freddie, 16, through their grief after the death of their mum Jade Goody
Discussing spending Mother’s Day with his sons, Jeff offered his own advice to listeners who are struggling with the anniversary of a loved one’s death.
He said: ‘Talking about the subject has made me feel emotional. I’ve got two boys that are really going to be missing their mum today. They miss her every day.
‘My vulnerability in this moment right now is that I, as a parent of two kids that lost their mum, I have got the responsibility on my shoulders of guiding them through the day.’
Difficult: The presenter spoke about marking an ’emotional’ Mother’s Day with his sons on Sunday, 12 years after Jade died following a battle with cervical cancer (pictured 2006)
Jeff then advised his listeners: ‘The way to make anniversaries go better is to make sure we recognise the person that we’ve lost as early on as we can. Like us, today we’ll go and visit their mum’s special place, it might be we look at some pictures.’
Jade died in March 2009 on Mother’s Day when she was just 27, after a much-publicised battle with cervical cancer.
Jeff has since become an advocate for mental health and grief survival, even releasing the book The Grief Survival Guide: How to Navigate Loss and All that Comes With It in 2017.
During his podcast the star advised his followers on how to get through Mother’s Day if it’s a difficult time due to the loss of a loved one.
Speaking out: Jeff also said he helps his sons through the anniversary of Jade’s death by encouraging them to remember her as much as they can
He continued: ‘My advice would be…we might feel that we’re being insensitive by posting Happy Mother’s Day to our mum.
‘We have every right to do that and our mums have every right to be recognised, even though some people are having a really bad day.
‘What I would also say though…your next post could be in recognition of people that have lost their mums or mums that have lost their children or people that have struggled to conceive.’
Jeff also discussed how he helped Freddie and Bobby through their first Christmas without Jade, explaining he tried to make the occasion ‘as special as he could.’
He said: ‘The first Christmas after the boys lost their mum, I wanted to make the day as special as I could. I made extra effort. There was maybe extra presents, extra food, sweets, cakes everything was extra.
‘But what I was missing was the reality that you can’t make that day special… It’s a reminder that someone isn’t there.’
Moving: Jade died in March 2009 on Mother’s Day when she was just 27, after a much-publicised battle with cervical cancer (pictured with her sons in 2006)
Jade sent shockwaves around the world in 2008 when she was informed live on Indian Big Brother, Bigg Boss, that she was suffering with Cervical Cancer, before she discovered the following year that she was terminal.
She then passed away in March, one month after marrying Jack Tweed. She is survived by her boys, who Jeff has guided through both his and their heartache.
In December Jeff talked about promoting mental health at Christmas with talk inevitably turning to Jade’s death.
He said: ‘I gave a great impression that I did. That gets you so far and I’m proud of how well I did. The biggest lesson you can learn is you’re not meant to have all the answers. It’s good you show them an example to express themselves freely…
‘A lot of people, their coping strategy is to suppress. We’re in a pandemic and death is all around us. We’re having it presented as statistical data….
‘When this is all done, I think we should go back and have some national memorial. People who’ve died recently have had far fewer people attending their funerals and it’s not fair.’
Important: Jeff has since become an advocate for mental health and grief survival, releasing the book The Grief Survival Guide: How to Navigate Loss and All that Comes With It in 2017