Hidden struggles of Jade Goody's final days - exploited by paedo, missing trust funds and dying wish (original) (raw)

Jade Goody’s last months were marked by fierce devotion to her young sons.

As Jade Goody's life was coming to an end, she had just one thing on her mind - her young sons. The Big Brother star, 27, worked tirelessly, selling interviews and pictures before her death, in a bid to make as much money as possible to leave for her boys, Bobby and Freddy. It's thought she made up to £3million before she tragically died from cervical cancer on 22 March, 2009.

Today marks 17 years since Jade Goody's passing and there's no doubt she would be proud of her two children, who were just five and four at the time of her death. Speaking in 2014, their father Jeff Brazier recalled that after Jade received her diagnosis, "the first thing she did was work out how much it would cost to put the boys through private education until they were 16. The answer was £260,000.

"In her last months that was what drove her on, even when she was so weak and in terrible pain. It was all that mattered to her. She so desperately wanted them to have the upbringing she had never had."

Her determination to secure a future for her children meant she remained in the public eye until the very end of her life. This did not sit well with some fans, who felt she was being exploited by disgraced publicist Max Clifford. Clifford, who represented Jade during her high-profile battle with cancer in 2008–2009, oversaw media coverage of her final months, including her wedding and her sons' christening.

Clifford, who died in prison in December 2017 while serving an eight-year sentence for multiple sexual offences against teenage girls as young as 15, monetised Jade's final months, arranging media coverage for financial gain - even amid concerns that his actions may have accelerated her decline.

In the Channel 4 documentary Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain, Clifford responded to criticism that Jade was overexerting herself while undergoing intensive chemotherapy for cervical cancer. He defended her ongoing public appearances, insisting that she remained in control of her own story, the Mirror reports.

On 7 March 2009 with only weeks left to live, Jade chose to be christened alongside her sons, with Clifford overseeing the arrangements. She was christened in a wheelchair, wearing her hospital gown and still attached to a drip, with nurses assisting her throughout the service at the Royal Marsden hospital in west London.

The press were present in large numbers at Clifford's request. He told reporters: "She finds it very hard to stay awake for more than a few minutes but she stayed awake for the 20 minutes of the service. It was a very positive atmosphere, after each of the boys were christened everyone clapped and after Jade was christened everyone clapped again."

Earlier, Clifford acknowledged that Jade’s two sons were not fully aware of the situation. “They know their mother is very ill and that is something the family will help them with,” he said.

Reflecting on the event in the documentary, Jeff Brazier admitted he had to suppress his concerns as Clifford controlled the narrative being published daily. "The christening was hard because we were having photographs taken of us and who wants to smile?" he said in the documentary. "Even the boys, like making them pose. But for Jade it was like, 'they're going to get X amount for this'. So that was like, playing along here. Doesn't feel right. We're playing along."

He added: "She was happy to be led by her agent. He was given a very simple brief, which was 'make the maximum', and I guess he did that."

Speaking over footage of the press outside the hospital, Jeff continued: "[Clifford] was taking something that was really personal and just making it into a circus. He did well off it. Did it add to the quality of her life? No. But again, I had to just take my back seat."

Clifford was also the driving force behind the first image of Jade without her hair, after the chemotherapy had left her bald and in intense pain. "Max Clifford brokered that deal. Oh wow. It made the papers fly off the shelves," recalled one photographer working at the time.

Additionally Clifford was involved in Jade's wedding to Jack Tweet. The couple tied the knot on February 22, 2009 at Down Hall, with Jade wearing a gown which was gifted to her by Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods.

Clifford arranged an exclusive deal with OK! magazine for the wedding coverage and addressed the media gathered outside the Down Hall Hotel following the ceremony. "They are now man and wife," he announced. He added that Jade, who had fallen ill the night before due to the stress of the preparations, had been able to stand for nearly the entire 45-minute service, except for the final five minutes.

Clifford faced renewed criticism for profiting from Jade’s final months while claiming he was acting in her best interests. In an appearance on This Morning with Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, Ruth remarked: "She's been criticised in the past for living her life as a reality show and selling everything, but at the moment she says she doesn't care what people think."

Clifford interrupted to say: "That's what she is. She said, I've loved being a reality star, I'm doing what comes naturally to me."

When Jade died, she reportedly left an estate worth £3 million, intended to fund a trust for her two sons, Bobby and Freddy, with £260,000 specifically set aside for their private school fees.

However, in 2020, Jade's husband Jack said the money had "vanished" and acknowledged that as a named beneficiary, he should have been more vigilant. "I don't want to accuse anyone because I don't know the full story but something doesn't seem right. Something doesn't add up," he told The Sun.

"I probably should have been more involved with the money situation, seeing where it all went and making sure the kids got it and it didn't get wasted by anyone. But it didn't feel right for me to get involved in that at the time."

This contradicted statements made by Jade’s mother Jackiey in 2019, who insisted that a substantial amount of money remained in the fund. "There is money for the boys in a trust. Bobby's private education is still paid for by Jade's money," she explained. "Freddy goes to a state school and loves it – the money would be there if he was to go to private school. There was enough to provide for the boys. I think they'll get it when they're 18 or 21."

Jackiey was left £10,000 in the will, while Jack received nothing aside from her six-year-old Volkswagen valued at £14,000, silencing suggestions that he had been exploiting her financially. “The wishes of my children should be regarded as paramount,” Jade emphasised in the will, making it clear that her children were her top priority.

However, Jack later claimed that behind the scenes Jade had attempted to buy him a flat and divide all the money they earned together - including the £1 million paid by OK! magazine for their wedding - equally. Jack says that, rather than keeping it for himself, he added the funds to the trust for their sons.

Jade passed away in her sleep at her home in Upshire, Essex, in the early hours of 22 March 2009, aged 27. Her mother shared the heartbreaking news, simply stating: "My beautiful daughter is at peace."

She spent her final hours being comforted at home by her mother, Jackiey. Jade and Jeff had co-written a "script" to help their sons understand, which she later shared privately at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital.

In the note, she explained that she would become a star in the sky, one the boys could always see. “She didn't want to tell them, but she knew she had to do it because she wanted them to know the truth,” Jeff recalled. “The thought of that always reduces me to tears. Our poor boys, poor Jade.”

As the end approached, her husband Jack slept on the floor beside her bed while she drifted in and out of consciousness. Reflecting on her final days, he recalled that Jade would sometimes wake up believing she was caring for a baby and call for her mother, Jackiey, to help.

Jack said: "She'd tell me to be quiet so I didn't wake the baby. I used to go along with it and pretend to take the baby and call Jackiey in and pretend to give the baby to her. "I'd then ask Jade whether she was OK and she'd say: 'Yes that's fine, now I can sleep.'"

In her final days, Jade had little strength to stay awake, yet her devotion to her sons remained unwavering. Just 48 hours before her death, as she drifted in and out of consciousness, she heard her five-year-old son Bobby crying in his sleep.

Summoning extraordinary willpower and against her doctors' advice, Jade managed to lift herself out of bed to reach him. She courageously put Bobby on her back and climbed the stairs with him, with close friend Kevin Adams telling The Sun: "She wasn't eating and the doctor said her health was deteriorating rapidly.

"But that night Jade got up, walked upstairs and pulled [Bobby] up onto her back and brought him to her hospital bed. The next day I told the doctor what had happened and she said, 'no Jade doesn't have the strength to do that because everything in her body is failing'.

"I told her that I saw it with my own eyes. She was able to do it because those kids meant everything to her. That memory will live with me forever, it is so special to me."