Jeff Brazier received supportive messages from Loose Men fans after he made a heartbreaking admission about his late partner Jade Goody.
During Tuesday’s instalment of the daytime programme, Jeff appeared on the panel alongside Jordan Banjo, Brian Conley, and Craig Doyle for a special spin-off of the show.
To mark this year’s International Men’s Day, the panel opened up on topics affecting them and others today, as they continue to tackle the taboos around men’s mental health and physical wellbeing.
Speaking about whether men grieve differently to women, Craig Doyle said to Jeff: ‘I’m gonna start with you because so much of your life has shown the happy times but also the sad times, so you know what you’re talking about.’
Jeff, who has openly discussed the loss of his sons’ mother, Jade Goody, over the years said: ‘Yeah absolutely, when the boys lost their mum I guess whilst they’re boys, not men yet, oh actually they’re just becoming men, I’ve just realised that they’re 21 so it’s gone ever so quickly,’
Jeff Brazier received supportive messages from Loose Men fans after he made a heartbreaking admission about his late partner Jade Goody
TV personality Jade tragically died in 2009 aged 27 after being diagnosed with cervical cancer the year before (pictured in 2003)
‘I think at first looking at them, the sort of six or seven months after the loss of their mum they didn’t really exhibit too much of the kind of behaviour that I was expecting.’
‘Then all of a sudden their world completely turned upside down and it was chaos, absolutely chaos.’
‘And we’ve all got a coping strategy that I think is probably more inherited within men than in women.’
‘As in women just seem to be really good at being human and natural and just being like “something really bad has just happened I’m gonna need to talk about it”.’
He continued: ‘Whereas boys, lads, dads, we will try and sweep it (grief) under, we will try and avoid it for as long as possible and hope that we get away with it and we just sort of step over it or we leave it behind.
‘And the truth is, even I as someone that didn’t feel worthy of grieving for Jade, because I hadn’t been with her for about two years at that point,’
‘I avoided what I was likely to be going through, which was a really challenging time, especially (for) someone who wasn’t even thirty years of age yet and all that responsibility in front of you.’
‘But I made it all about the kids and I think that’s probably a typical response for any parent, of course we would put them first…’
During Tuesday’s instalment of the daytime programme, Jeff appeared on the panel alongside Jordan Banjo, Brian Conley, and Craig Doyle for a special spin-off of the show
To mark this year’s International Men’s Day, the panel opened up on topics affecting them and others today, as they continue to tackle the taboos around men’s mental health and physical wellbeing
He added: ‘But the truth is, it’s always going to catch up with you, you’re always going to have to pay that debt to yourself and those feelings don’t evaporate like you hope.
‘They actually just build and build and build until one day, it’ll be something completely random that will set you off and then you realise you’ve got this absolute build-up of unresolved feelings and trauma that you haven’t been able to talk about.’
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Fans then flocked to X, formerly Twitter, to show their support for Jeff after he candidly opened up on his grief.
One fan wrote: ‘@JeffBrazier watching you just now, as the mum or two boys (now young men) who lost dad your words resonated with me. As you said, their loss/grief changes as they do and I don’t think people understand that. Thank you for sharing your experiences & insight so publicly.’;
‘Really enjoy watching @JeffBrazier on telly, very open talking about feelings and death, and was a lovely dad on the ‘race across the world’ more Jeff on the telly please! #LooseWomen.’;
‘Twelve years ago my two children lost their mum and my wife to cervical cancer. They were 7 and 4. Jeff and helped us all at that moment. We all shared a moment with Jeff and his boys, letting balloons go. I can’t believe they are 20 and 21 now. #loosemen #loosewomen.’;
‘I’m enjoying #LooseMen as I always do, it’s refreshing to hear men’s perspectives and only fair that they have their hour. I think it should be a monthly thing! #LooseWomen.’
Speaking about whether men grieve differently to women, Jeff said: ‘boys, lads, dads, we will try and sweep it (grief) under, we will try and avoid it for as long as possible’
He added: ‘And the truth is, even I as someone that didn’t feel worthy of grieving for Jade, because I hadn’t been with her for about two years at that point,’
‘I avoided what I was likely to be going through, which was a really challenging time, especially (for) someone who wasn’t even thirty years of age yet and all that responsibility in front of you’
Fans then flocked to X, formerly Twitter, to show their support for Jeff after he candidly opened up on his grief
Jade tragically died in 2009 aged 27 after being diagnosed with cervical cancer. Her son Bobby was aged just five when she died, while her other son Freddy was four (pictured 2006)
TV personality Jade Goody tragically died in 2009 aged 27 after being diagnosed with cervical cancer the year before. Her son Bobby was aged just five when she died, while her other son Freddy was four.
Jeff started dating Jade in 2002, shortly after she came fourth on Big Brother series three.
The couple then welcomed sons Bobby in 2003 and Freddy in 2004, however, they split after two years together.
They never confirmed the reasons for their break-up, but speaking in the Channel 4 documentary Jade Goody: The Reality Star That Changed Britain, Jeff suggested that newspaper reports played a part in their split.
He said on the show: ‘Things that were personal to us kept appearing in the papers.’
‘[We’d ask] how do they know that? We were convinced that [each other] or people around us were selling stories and making money on things that were very contentious for us.’
“You sold a story”, “no I haven’t you must have done it”, “I haven’t done it must be your mate”, “they haven’t done it must be your mate”, and trust disintegrated to nothing.’