Jeff Brazier makes sad admission about son Freddy's addiction and watching him 'suffer'
In a heartbreaking new interview, Jeff Brazier tearfully admitted he 'couldn't do anything' to stop his son Freddy's drug addiction.
The British presenter made an appearance on Matt Willis' On The Mend podcast this weekend (18 Oct), where he reflected on a tricky few years for his family, spurred largely by his youngest's addiction battle.
"To see your son suffer in that way and not be able to appeal to his better nature to stop that addiction cycle," the 47-year-old began. "I couldn’t do anything to stop it."
Freddy, 22, has long suffered from both addiction and mental health issues, infamously spending his 18th birthday in a psychiatric ward, having been diagnosed with psychosis following prolonged cannabis use.
Advert
The father-of-two - who shares sons Bobby and Freddy with late Celebrity Big Brother star Jade Goody - recalled Freddy's latest episode, which resulted in him going awol.
"And I tried standing in front of the front door, I tried going to the police," Jeff continued. "I’ve had to go looking for him on countless occasions and trying to bring him to safety, only for him to then flee the minute that you turn your back because he needs to be near the things that he perceives himself to need."
He went on to confess, however, that despite Freddy going to rehab, it 'wasn't enough for that behaviour to change'.
"What else can I do but keep trying?" Jeff asked. "I just keep trying. I’m never going to stop. I just always want to support him. It’s what Jade would be absolutely insisting that I do."
The star's comments come shortly after Freddy admitted to spending some of the budget he and his father received while appearing on the BBC reality competition Celebrity Race Across the World on drugs.
The 2024 series saw the father-son pair travelling from Belém, in Brazil to Frutillar, Chile, with a joint £2,200 budget.
Freddy later confessed he 'wasn't in the place mentally' to appear on the show, being that he was struggling with the death of his mother, who died of cervical cancer in 2009, aged 27.
"It come at a f**king bad time, to be honest," Freddy told listeners of The Terry Stone Connection podcast. "Like the week before the master interviews, I’d had quite an extreme episode and I’d calmed down by the time of the interviews
"I weren’t in the place mentally, and when I knew that we were going to be filming over Mother’s Day as well, I was like, 'Oh f*ck sh*t, I’m going to have cameras in my face on f**king Mother’s Day. I want to be alone'," he added.
Freddy went on to recall climbing out of a hotel window while the cameras weren't rolling to buy cannabis.
"I was like, 'I’m okay, I’m okay', and I’ve gone to the beach and we’d seen these people before, they were couples and they make bracelets with countries on," he explained.
"And they bought me a beer and I’ve taken some money out of the budget we were given, and I’ve went and bought myself a three five [of weed] in Brazil on Mother’s Day."
Freddy continued: "And smoked it with these two bracelet makers on the beach while looking at the stars."
He described the decision as 'beautiful', but 'so wrong'.
Topics: Celebrity, UK News, Reality TV, Real Life
Rhianna Benson