Freddy Brazier has spoken out on the reasons behind his fractured relationship with dad Jeff Brazier.
The TV presenter, 46, is a dad to 20-year-old Freddy and 22-year-old actor Bobby Brazier, both of whom he shares with the late Jade Goody.
In recent months, the Brazier family has made headlines, with Jeff reportedly taking legal action to prevent his youngest son from seeing his grandmother, Jackiey Budden.
Freddy was then allegedly seen out in South London, smoking a joint with his nan, issuing a statement yesterday to confirm he was entering rehab, having been ‘addicted’ to smoking since he was 12.
Now, Freddy has given an interview in which he declares he ‘doesn’t want to see’ his dad, accusing him of being image-obsessed without consideration for ‘his own sons’.
Dropping bombshell after bombshell while speaking to the Daily Mail, Freddy began: ‘It feels to me like he only cares about his own image. He doesn’t think about anything that affects anyone else, not even his own sons.
‘I don’t want to see him, and I won’t see him next week on Father’s Day either.
‘But that’s because I feel like I’m being hung out. I don’t really deserve it.’
Freddy, who was just four when his mum died from cervical cancer in 2009 at age 27, also shed light on the dynamic between him and his older brother Bobby.
He claims they are ‘all barely speaking,’ which is a stark contrast to the supportive scenes the nation witnessed when Freddy and Jeff cheered for the soap star in the Strictly Come Dancing 2023 audience.
There’s one family member Freddy remains close to, however, and that is Jackiey.
He says they have ‘proper fun’ while together, clarifying that, despite what Jeff allegedly believes, he didn’t start smoking weed because he spends time with his nan.
Instead, he took up the habit ‘years ago with [his] mates’, but now finds ‘peace’ in doing it.
‘Supposedly, he’s (dad Jeff) taking legal action to stop me from seeing my nana, but nothing will stop me doing that. She’s my family,’ he stated.
‘And my mum would be upset if she was here to see him doing that. He still tries to treat me like I’m 13. I’m 20 years old.
‘He doesn’t let me do anything for myself.’
Insisting that he will ‘always’ be in contact with his nan, he vows to move to another country if Jeff’s injunction – which Freddy claims he learned about through the press – is successful.
Meanwhile, Jackiey has also made her feelings about Jeff clear. In a previous explicit rant, she branded him the C-word several times.
I feel like I’m being hung out. I don’t really deserve it
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She added to MailOnline: ‘I know what this is all about. It (the situation with Jeff) doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.
‘Do I want to see Freddy? Of course I do. I see Freddy all of the time. I will see him.’
Freddy and Jeff participated in the Celebrity series of Race Across the World together last year, travelling to southern Chile.
During the trip, they attempted to bond as Freddy still processes his mum’s death, but it was clear to viewers that there was tension at times.
One moment saw Jeff tell cameras that Freddy ‘isn’t at home loads.’
And while Freddy praised his dad, who brought him up, for ‘everything he has done for [him]’, he added: ‘At times where I’ve pushed him away, he has pulled even harder to pull me back in.’
This Morning presenter Jeff also ‘stormed off’ at one point when Freddy confessed their family isn’t as close as viewers might assume.
Freddy now says they filmed the show before their big fallout, but ‘only because [Jeff] really wanted to do it’.
Maintaining that he ‘didn’t’ want to take part, he said his dad has an ‘obsession with image and making money,’ which he believes is why his father wants to distance him from Jackiey, who has spoken openly about her own addiction struggles in the past.
‘It’s always all about image. It’s all about money. That’s why Bobby moved out of my dad’s place, too. He’s living in London now instead, doing his own thing,’ Freddy claimed.
‘Me and Bobby don’t speak much either. I sent him a message to wish him a happy birthday, but that’s it.
‘I used to be the middleman between my dad and everyone. But now I can’t be bothered. I don’t care what happens. He’s the fiery one; I’m chilled out—I zone out and walk away when we argue.’
Freddy’s tell-all interview, in which he said he is ‘in a good place’, comes one day after his Insta Story statement in which he promised to work on his family relations by ‘cutting down’ smoking.
In part of his post, he wrote: ‘I want to be clean so I can life happily and have healthy relationships with people and be there for all of my family rather then feeling like I’m in the middle and have to choose a side.’
He continued: ‘I haven’t been able to feel love properly as I have never loved myself and it starts now I want to play football and take up boxing I want to be happy and be in a healthy relationship and have a healthy relationship with my Nana and my father’.
The last time Freddy was seen with his dad was on June 4.
Looking downcast, Jeff met up with Freddy in Essex, and they were spotted having a tense meeting at a barbershop, engaging in an animated conversation before leaving together.
Reps for Jeff Brazier have been contacted for comment.
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