Jeff Brazier has opened up about the ‘sign’ Jade Goody sent him the day she died, and how it helped him to tell his sons that their mother had passed away.
The 38-year-old, who has two children with the late TV star - Bobby, 14, and Freddie, 12, - spoke about losing his ex-partner to cervical cancer and how he dealt with the grief surrounding that time, during an interview with BUILD on 7 June.
“How do you explain what terminal, or life limiting - which is a better term for that really - means to a four and a five-year-old?” he said.
Brazier explained that introducing the concept of death to his children was handled first by Goody before her illness became terminal.
He said that the couple were set on keeping the boys informed throughout the process, and keeping the information consistent, but after Goody died the responsibility to do the “hardest thing” was now on him alone.
When considering how to broach the topic, the TV presenter relied on the narrative Goody had set out before she died.
“I just remember we told them the whole time that mum was going to be a beautiful, bright star in the sky, rising up to heaven and she was going to go and do a very important job for God,” he said.
Then on the day of Goody’s death, Brazier waited till bedtime before breaking the news to his sons.
“I thought it was the best time of night, and probably bought myself a little bit of time to be honest,” he said adding that he went out into the garden to compose himself.
“And there was one big brilliant bright star out there, which kinda just made it that bit easier... thanks Jade.
“And I took them [the boys] outside, they saw it, they knew themselves - ‘That is mummy isn’t it?’”
Brazier, is now a life coach and he has recently written about his personal experiences and lessons learned from counselling other grieving parents, in his first book ‘The Grief Survival Guide: How To Navigate Loss And All That Comes With It’.
He also explained that on the day of Goody’s death he woke up “knowing” she had gone, and he believes his children experienced the same sense of loss.
“It’s very intriguing, because intuitively I’m sure they knew anyway, I knew, I woke up in the morning and I knew,” he said.
“We are spiritually connected and there is a lot in that.”
Watch the full interview with Jeff Brazier on BUILD. His new book, published on 1 June 2017, is available to buy here.