Jack Tweed has insisted that his late wife Jade Goody would be unhappy about the war between her ex Jeff Brazier and mother Jackiey over her youngest son Freddy.
Jack and Jade married in February 2009, just a month before she tragically passed away from cervical cancer aged 27, leaving behind her sons Bobby, 21, and Freddy, 20.
After her death, the two boys – then aged five and four – went to live with their father Jeff, 45, with her mum Jackiey, 68, helping him raise them. However, Jeff and Jackiey have clashed multiple times over the years and now the TV star is taking action in an attempt to legally block contact between Freddy and his grandmother, ‘to keep him safe’.
Reflecting on the feud, Jack – who has stayed close with the two boys – has insisted that Jade wouldn’t have wanted the animosity towards her mother, but added that the late star had been determined that Jackiey wouldn’t raise her sons either.
In a new interview with the Sun, he admitted that he didn’t think that Jackiey was in the ‘right place’ to be raising the boys, but insisted that Jade wouldn’t want her completely cut out.He said: ‘Maybe at the minute, Jackiey isn’t in the right place to see the boys and bring them up because she doesn’t make the right decisions sometimes and she might let the boys get away with things that most parents wouldn’t.
But he added he was sympathetic to Jeff, as he felt the TV presenter has ‘not really got too much choice’ but to prioritise Freddy’s mental health, rather than Jackiey’s desire to see them.
While Jack confessed that he that he knew Jade would not ‘be over the moon’ about the war between Jeff and Jackiey, as he said she had been determined not to let her sons have the same upbringing that she had.
Jackiey is a former drug addict, who lost the use of her left arm in a motorbike accident, openly admitted smoking crack cocaine while Jade was a child, and in 2010 a video emerged of her taking cocaine.
Jack said: ‘It’s hard because I’d never ever sit here and slag Jackiey off because I wouldn’t ever do that to Jade. Jade wouldn’t like that. Obviously, she’s not going to be over the moon about what’s going on, but at the same time she knew she struggled with her childhood with Jackiey, so she knew she wouldn’t want the same for her boys.
‘Her whole life the main thing was she didn’t want her boys having the same upbringing as what she did, which obviously they haven’t, they’ve had a nicer upbringing with Jeff, but she wouldn’t want Jackiey doing things that she wouldn’t have with the boys.’
While he’s stayed in touch with both the boys over the years, Jack explained that Freddy previously struggled to see him because it stirred up memories of Jade.
However, he said they have been speaking a lot more lately and making plans to meet up, after Freddy recently revealed he has been diagnosed with bipolar in a candid video about his ‘serious’ mental health.Jack said: ‘With Freddy, I haven’t seen him for a while because I think it was tough for him. Where I’m mostly connected to his mum, I think it was a bit tough for him to see me because it would bring back a lot of memories. It was hard for him, but I think he’s ready and in the right place for me to see him’.
Until very recently, Freddy regularly stayed with Jackiey in her two-bedroom council flat – where Jade grew up – and from where he’s posted a video on TikTok of him appearing to smoke cannabis.
After a recent three weeks stay there, he returned to his father’s home in Essex two weeks ago and it is understood that this was the last straw for Jeff, who is now taking legal advice as to how to keep them apart, permanently.
It’s been reported that he has sought the advice on the grounds of keeping Freddy ‘safe from a relationship that has been incredibly detrimental to his well being for a long time now’.
But Jackiey has insisted to the Mail this week that her flat is a place of sanctuary for Freddy, and the two get on well, saying: ‘My house is safe for Freddy, and it always has been since he was little.
‘The boy is an adult now, and Jeff treats him like he’s ten. It made sense seven years ago when Freddy was still 13 when Jeff first tried to stop him from seeing me, but now he’s 20 years old.
‘What possible basis does he have? And do you know what? He’s a clever boy Freddy. He’s not stupid.’
After Jeff hired a leading barrister for the upcoming hearing, Jackiey hit out at the proceedings, telling MailOnline on Monday: ‘I know what this is all about. It [the situation with Jeff] doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.’She asked: ‘Do I want to see Freddy? Of course I do. I see Freddy all of the time. I will see him.’
In 2021, Bobby confirmed in an Instagram video that he was back in contact with his nan after losing touch.
He said: ‘I didn’t see her for ages – for way too long – but I went to see her twice recently.
‘And honestly if there’s one woman you shouldn’t underestimate it’s my nan. Honestly, she’s like a wizard! It’s nuts.’
Friends of the family said Jackiey and Jeff, who has looked after the boys since Jade’s death, fell out some years back and have not been able to repair their relationship.
In 2023 Jackiey was banned from attending the Strictly final, where Bobby was pipped to the post by Ellie Leach, amid her ongoing feud with Jeff.
One friend told the Mail: ‘Jeff and Jackiey haven’t got on for a long time and it has been hard. It has meant that Jackiey hasn’t been able to be in the audience to watch Bobby, things are just too bad between her and his father…
‘He and his brother Freddy are her only grandchildren and she adores them, there is nothing she would love more than to be there to watch him live.’Jack also said at the time that Jade would want her mum to be at the studio to watch Bobby dance on one of the biggest television events of the year.
Jade’s ex-husband added that Jackiey had ‘an absolute right’ to watch her grandson after she was banned amid her feud with Jeff – who she said had been a ‘c**k for nine years’ in an interview with Mail Online earlier this month.
In September that year, she secretly got tickets to the National Television Awards to watch Bobby get a Rising Star gong for playing Freddie Slater in EastEnders and it was there that she was recorded branding Jeff a ‘c***’.
Jackiey addressed the row with Jeff when speaking to MailOnline, she said: ‘When I came out for the NTA Awards, I’m loud and it’s the drink and someone went ‘oh I bet you’re really proud’ and ‘how do you get on with Jeff Brazier’ and I said “he’s a c**k”.
‘Next minute I’m on the internet and all over the papers. As I came out of the O2, someone overheard me say it, so they sold the story.’
When asked if she said it and why, Jackiey fumed: ‘Of course I said it. I haven’t got a problem with (calling him that).
‘He’s been a c**k for f****** nine years. Bobby doesn’t need that stress on his head. He’s my grandson.’