Bobby’s estranged gran secretly joins the Strictly tour audience to see him and takes a photo of Jade so that ‘she can watch too’
IT WAS all sequins and smiles as Bobby Brazier, the endearing star of last year’s Strictly series, twirled and quickstepped in front of adoring fans for the show’s live tour. One fan, though, had more reason to cheer than most. As Jackiey Budden watched her grandson perform at Newcastle’s Metro Arena last month, she was holding something precious – a picture of reality star Jade Goody, her late daughter and Bobby’s mother.
‘I travelled to Newcastle so I could be as close as possible to him,’ Jackiey tells me in this emotional interview. ‘I took a picture of Jade with me so she could watch him, too. It was important to me that she was there as well.
‘I sat near the front, around some big fans of Bobby’s. One got his attention and Bobby saw me. He knew I was there and that’s all I needed to know.’
Why, you might wonder, was it so important to Jackiey that her grandson saw her in the audience?
The truth is she hasn’t seen him for more than a year because of a rift between her and Bobby’s father, the TV presenter Jeff Brazier. So deeply is their relationship damaged that Jackiey had to buy her own ticket to see Bobby, 20, perform.
It’s clear, though, that she would do anything to be close to Bobby. ‘At least he knew I had made the effort for him, and I still love him despite whatever has gone on with his dad,’ she says.
The 67-year-old was later buoyed when she says she received a text from Bobby: ‘He said he had seen I was there and hoped I had enjoyed the show. It’s the first time I had heard anything from him in months. It was lovely, but I think it will be a while before I do again.’
It’s a long way from the days when Bobby would leave a yellow rose on his grandmother’s doorstep if he visited her home in Bermondsey, South East London, and found she wasn’t there – the sweetest of calling cards to let her know he had missed seeing her. Today, her fallout with their father has effectively ended their relationship.
‘Bobby was on my hip from when he was a tiny baby,’ Jackiey says. ‘Throughout his years as a young boy, and then as he grew up, he would come and visit all the time. What I would give for another yellow rose on my doorstep now. He is the kindest, loveliest boy. I miss him unimaginably.’
Bobby, whose full name is Bobby Jack, hasn’t visited Jackiey at her council flat for more than a year. Previously, he regularly popped over and the pair would watch old videos of Jade’s TV programmes for comfort.
‘If we were feeling sad one day, Freddy [Bobby’s younger brother] would go and do one of Jade’s exercise videos in the bedroom and Bobby and I would sit and watch some of her old programmes in the living room,’ Jackiey says. ‘I have got all of the DVDs from that time.
‘We would watch Jade’s Salon, a reality show she did about opening
a hairdresser’s. We would just sit and talk about Jade while it was on. I think it helped us all.’ So close were they that Jackiey took Bobby’s packed lunch to him when he began his first job in an office in London’s Shard building. ‘We did so much together,’ says Jackiey. ‘We’d walk around Borough Market at lunchtime or go to Soho and just wander. Bobby rang me before Strictly and we had a chat about how he was getting on. That was the last time we spoke. It breaks my heart.’ Those who know Jackiey say that
the fallout with Jeff has robbed her of her grandchildren – and the only link she has to her late daughter, who became famous in 2002 after appearing on Big Brother.
Shortly afterwards, Jade met former professional football player Jeff, now 44.
Their relationship lasted barely two years, but produced two sons: Bobby in 2003 and Freddy in 2004. Jackiey says she often pitched in with childcare.
Jade died in 2009 from cervical cancer, aged 27. After her death, a protective Jeff kept their sons out of the limelight.
Jackiey says she and Jeff ‘rubbed along’ together but as the lads grew up, their relationship imploded.
She blames the fallout on Jeff and talks of ‘differing values’.
Indeed, Jeff has previously said Jackiey spoiled his sons with ‘unsuitable’ purchases that he had to confiscate.
Today, Jackiey says: ‘The boys live with Jeff, so Bobby feels like he has to do what Jeff wants. I get it.’
But what does she make of Jeff? ‘We don’t get on. We are very different, but I have been there for those boys since they were born.’
Jackiey avoids being too impolite for fear of making relations even worse – but emotions rise, and she can’t help but describe Jeff several times as ‘the c**k’.
Does she like him? ‘No, not at all – but he doesn’t like me either.’
It’s fair to say Jackiey is not a conventional grandmother. A former drug addict, she’s been open about her failings, raising Jade on benefits in an often chaotic and sometimes abusive one-parent household.
For all her flaws, though, one can’t help but feel sorry for her. She has undoubtedly lost more from the feud than Jeff – not least the fact
What I would give for him to leave a yellow rose on my doorstep now
I don’t like his father Jeff at all – but then he doesn’t like me either
that it’s prevented her from cheering Bobby on during some of the biggest moments of his life.
Jackiey says that she was saddened to learn she had been banned from going to the BBC’s studios to see Bobby perform on the Strictly Come Dancing stage: ‘I thought that was wrong.’
Despite attempts to make peace with Jeff, she was not invited to see Bobby compete in the Strictly final, won by actress Ellie Leach. Instead, she watched at home.
‘I was so proud,’ she admits. ‘Watching my Bobby Jack was wonderful. I didn’t miss a minute. I just have to remember that I got to see him do that and it was amazing.
‘Of course I would’ve liked to be there but I wasn’t allowed.’
So what for the future of the once close nan and grandson?
‘I would love more than anything to repair all of this,’ she says. ‘I miss Bobby, and hope that maybe once he moves out of Jeff’s house to his own place he’ll feel he can see me again and we can go back to how we used to be.’
And, perhaps, Bobby will once again remind his nan that he loves her by leaving her a yellow rose.