Jeff Brazier made sure his two sons celebrated their late mother's birthday. It has been eight years since Jade Goody, who would have turned 36 on Monday, passed away following a battle with cervical cancer. Jeff, 38, took to his Instagram page to share a picture of Bobby, 14, and Freddy, 12, enjoying a meal with close family and friends. In the caption, the TV presenter wrote: "Celebrated what would have been Jade’s 36th Birthday yesterday. How different our lives would be if she were still here. Bless my brave boys #TooSoon."
The proud father has shielded his two boys from the public eye following Jade's death in March 2009, and has only recently started sharing photos of his children. Tuesday also marks Bobby's 14th birthday, with Jeff opening up about his family's loss during an emotional appearance on Loose Women. "It was unclear to me what my grief should be," he explained. "She wasn't my partner at the time although she brought those children into the world with me so it was very important. It's weird today because I can discuss this in length in the book but today was different - I'm surrounded by women."
Speaking about celebrating Jade's birthday with his sons, Jeff added: "We had a couple of her friends with us. They take the children back to that time when their mum was still there. It's very current. It never leaves the table. It's always on our minds." The father-of-two, who has since written a book titled The Grief Survival Guide: How to Navigate Loss and All That Comes With It, told his fans that it's ok to grieve after the death of a loved one.
STORY: Jeff Brazier reveals heartbreaking way he told young sons their mother had died
"I had to fight back the tears on @itv @loosewomen today. Am I embarrassed? Not a chance. I'm so grateful that a combination of video footage of Jade and the boys and 4 woman armed with tissues & insightful questions led me to a reserve of my own grief for Jade that I have undoubtedly suppressed making it quite rightly all about the boys," he said alongside an image. "I love crying, it's such a relief but yet so hard to come by. I think it's time myself and the children started to look at video footage of Mum a little more regularly so we can all find out exactly what level of grief we're holding on to. Ha. I write about denial in grief extensively in my book but I failed to recognise my own."