As father to Jade Goody’s two boys, Jeff Brazier has fought to maintain their privacy and ensure they grow up with a sense of normality despite their troubled early years. But today he spoke out about the difficulties of keeping his children protected, particularly when his kids want to be famous.
'After Jade's death he took out a ban on media outlets publishing photos of the kids until they're 16'
‘This Morning’ regular Jeff revealed the problems he faces bringing up his and Jade Goody’s children by himself after her tragic death in 2009. At the time he was inundated with offers of photo shoots with their kids Bobby, 9, and eight year old Freddie, but Jeff has always said he wants the boys to have a normal childhood and after Jade’s death he took out a ban on media outlets publishing photos of the kids till they’re 16.
But as the pair get older he’s finding protecting them harder, and it’s not just 33-year-old Jeff that struggles, the boys do too; ‘They get mad at me sometimes. I took them to an event at the Science Museum recently and they saw me having my picture taken and they said, ‘Why can’t we get in the picture with you? Mummy used to let us.’
Single dad Jeff sees more problems ahead with controlling the boys as they get tech savvy and want to use Facebook and Twitter; ‘I will have to demand a privacy setting so only their friends can see their profiles. But who’s to say they might turn around and say, ‘No, I have a right to have a profile picture’ —particularly when they are the only kid in the class without one.’
'There will probably be infringements on the privacy ban'
And as they get older Jeff knows ‘there will probably be infringements on the privacy ban — but it may be more on their part, putting things out themselves…I don’t know how I will control that — or even if I should control it.’