As Jeff and Freddie Brazier embark on the final leg of their journey on Celebrity Race Around The World tonight, it’s fair to wonder how they’ll fare. Just a couple of episodes in, the father-son relationship has at times created awkwardness.
When they arrive in Salvador on the coast of Brazil to visit the Farol da Barra lighthouse, it is Mother’s Day – a terrible reminder of the death of Jade Goody on Mother’s Day 2009. They both speak movingly of their loss.
Freddie was just four years old when his reality TV star mother died of cervical cancer, leaving her partner Jeff to care for two young boys: Freddie and his older brother Bobby, who was just five.
Tonight’s episode is one of those heartbreaking TV moments: remembering Goody as the sun sets, they head out for a swim together.
“That was going to be a tough day,” Jeff said. “Freddie was feeling a little uncomfortable, so we went into the ocean and swam. The waves were really big and it was great. We just played around and it was a really important and meaningful moment for us.”
Jeff and Freddie Brazier in Celebrity Race Across The World. The couple will arrive in Salvador, on the coast of Brazil, in the last episode
Freddie’s mother, Jade Goody, died after a battle with cervical cancer on Mother’s Day in 2009.
Freddie, 19, admits he doesn’t remember his enormous mother: “A lot of my memories of my mother come from documentaries, YouTube videos and newspapers. They’re not my memories.”
She adds that since Goody died aged 27, which was “really hard”, she has tended to repress her feelings: “I don’t like to show my emotions. I don’t even talk to my father much about my mother. I just avoid it. I don’t want to feel like I’m a burden on them.”
But he added, perhaps insightfully, that by taking this epic journey with his father, “maybe Mom is pushing us in the direction we need to go.”
In fact, there have been hints – more than hints – that there are cracks in the father-son relationship.
On the opening episode of Celebrity Race Around The World earlier this month, Jeff was seen walking away after Freddie claimed his family don’t talk openly to each other.
Jeff was also said to be afraid of how the two men would fare before they signed up for the series. In one scene, as they struggled to get through the first leg in Brazil, they both lost their tempers and Jeff stormed off.
Freddie told the cameras: “A part of me came to this race to speak openly with my father and he’s already storming off. That’s not good. He might not like what I’m saying, I’m just trying to talk to him, but it’s difficult.”
But today the Mail can reveal that a family feud between the pair has its roots not in the usual parent-child rows over coming home late or disagreements over unsuitable girlfriends, but in something much deeper.
In fact, family friends say the feuding between the pair was so bad that Freddie fled former reality TV star Jeff’s £1m Essex mansion to live with his grandmother, Jade’s mum Jackiey Budden.
It is in her two-bedroom flat in Bermondsey, east London, that she seeks solace.
“Freddie would often turn up at the door, sometimes very sad, and wanting to see his grandmother,” a source said. “He and Jeff often argue, the fights can be bad, things get really, really bad between them and that’s it, he’s gone.
‘Freddie has a lot of love to give, but he doesn’t feel like he can receive it from his father.
‘While Jackiey has her issues and will be the first to admit that she’s not the most perfect or archetypal grandmother, he can share his feelings with her, something he can’t do at Jeff’s house. He’s had a terribly sad life, but he feels like he can’t talk about it.’
Jeff, meanwhile, speaks movingly on Celebrity Race about having to step up to help his children after Jade’s death: “I think when the kids lost their mum, I really redoubled my efforts to put all my time, effort, attention and focus on the kids.”
In the opening episode earlier this month, Jeff was seen walking away after Freddie claimed his family doesn’t talk openly to each other.
Jade with her children and husband Jack Tweed, with whom Freddie is said to often spend time.
Although a source close to the family confirms what he says, it has not been enough to cement his relationship with Freddie: ‘Jeff took the children in when Jade died, kept them out of the spotlight and did the best he could to raise them amidst such difficult circumstances, but sadly Freddie just can’t get along with him.’
I’ve been told that there are lines where you have to stand.
The problems began about five years ago, when Freddie turned 14. Living in Bobby’s shadow as his younger brother, Freddie is said to have felt lost.
Jeff, who rose to fame in the early 2000s on Channel 4 reality show Shipwrecked, had just married Kate Dwyer, a PR executive, and despite all parties’ best efforts, as with many blended families, things were strained.
As Bobby, 21, began to forge a career (he landed a role in BBC One soap EastEnders in 2022 and danced his heart out on Strictly Come Dancing last year), Freddie struggled.
So what has caused the rift between Jeff and his son?
Friends say the crux of the matter is Freddie’s relationship with Jackiey and the bad relationship between Jackiey and Jeff.
“He’s furious at the idea of Freddie going to his house after they’ve had a fight, he’s angry at the idea of him seeking solace there.”
But, like it or not, I’m told Freddie loves nothing more than putting on one of Jade’s workout DVDs in the bedroom she grew up in, standing on the bed and following along with his workout.
“Jeff and Jackiey had a falling out a few years ago and that’s really rubbed salt in the wound,” said a family member. “Freddie has to hide that he sees his grandmother, as does Bobby, but they will never, ever reconcile.”
Another issue that is said to particularly irritate Jeff, 45, is that Freddie often spends time with actor Jack Tweed, his late mother’s husband. They married just a week before she died.
After Jade’s death, contact between Freddie, Bobby and Jack was sparse, but as Freddie grew older and was therefore able to have his own relationship with him, they became closer.
The family source said: ‘Freddie loves hanging out with Jack and also James Argent (former star of reality show The Only Way Is Essex), who he knows well. When Jeff had the children he wanted to protect them from as much pain as he could, but really what Freddie wants is to remember his mother.
“Being around Jack is something Freddie enjoys. He knows how happy Jack made his mother and finds that comforting.”
And right now, it seems, Freddie is looking forward to remembering his mother. That’s clear to see on Celebrity Race Across The World.
The question is whether this will ultimately bring Freddie and his father together or tear them apart.
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