Jeff Brazier Gets Emotional Remembering Jade Goody: ‘If There Is a God…’

Jeff Brazier on Jade Goody’s death: ‘I thought, if there is a God, this wouldn’t have happened… By the time the boys lost their mum, turning to God was not an option.”

A blonde man wearing a green shirt, smiling ahead.
Dave Benett/Getty Images for Smiley Charity Film Awards
 

BBC Two’s popular Pilgrimage returns to screens this Easter weekend as another batch of celebrities embark on a spiritual journey through the Austrian and Swiss Alps.

The group includes Jay McGuiness, Daliso Chaponda, Harry Clark, Stef Reid, Helen Lederer, Nelufar Hedaya and TV presenter Jeff Brazier, who has opened up to Radio Times magazine about his own journey with faith.

“My early reflection on God was that if there is a God, then these things would not have happened to me,” he said.

Jeff Brazier holding a young Bobby and Freddy Brazier on either side of his hip.
Bobby, Jeff and Freddy Brazier. Chris Harding/Getty Images

“By the time the boys lost their mum, turning to God was not an option. I just knew I had to [raise them]. I had a can-do attitude. But it was a shield and I was denying myself all the emotions.”

Brazier, who attended Catholic schools growing, said that spirituality and meditation, which is now a part of his everyday life, was something he returned to after Jade Goody, the mother to his two children [Bobby and Freddy], died of cervical cancer in 2009 at 27 years old.

Daily meditation and ice baths help to keep Brazier’s mind clear but going into the series, he was slightly worried that his fellow pilgrims might think his beliefs of “a commitment to self-development, my relationship with the planet and everything in it… a bit of a cop-out”.

“But everybody was receptive to different points of view,” he added. “You are sharing your vulnerability.”

By taking part in the series and going on the pilgrimage, Brazier was allowed time and space “to clarify the direction I needed to go in”.

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