Strictly star Bobby Brazier’s heartbreaking final message from mum Jade Goody

Strictly star Bobby Brazier is one of the early favourites to be crowned champion and walk home with the coveted Glitterball trophy.

Fans at home were left fuming following his stunning samba last weekend, with supporters of the EastEnders’ actor insisted he had been underscored for his routine with professional partner, Dianne Buswell. One disgruntled fan wrote on Instagram: “Seriously undermarked and I never say that lightly, he was so good. Another penned: “Very undermarked. Marking and comments don’t match up, they didn’t give him one negative comment or anything to work on. It was [the most] amazing dance of the night for me.”

Proudly watching Bobby in the audience was his rarely seen younger brother, Freddie Brazier, who like Bobby lost his mum, Jade Goody, when he was still a young child. It’s been over a decade since we lost the beloved reality TV star, regarded as one of the most legendary housemates in the Big Brother house. Jade, who rose to fame on the third series of Big Brother in 2002, was just 20 years old when she entered the house and finished in fourth place on the series that also included stars such as Alison Hammond, Kate Lawler, and Adele Roberts.

Despite her fame, Jade had a difficult upbringing in South East London as both her parents were drug addicts and split when she was just two years old. In 2005, Jade disowned her father, Andrew Goody, who served four years in prison for robbery and died of an overdose at age 42. She remained close with her mum, Jackiey Budden, who said she entered Big Brother to escape her life. She said: “We were a twisted-up, mucked-up family. She didn’t go in for fame. She went in to get away from me.”

Jade’s unfiltered personality became a major talking point during her stay in the Big Brother house, where she claimed that she often spoke without thinking. Despite this, after leaving the show, she managed to forge a successful career in the limelight becoming the first UK reality TV star to make a million pounds. In 2006, she even released her own autobiography and a best-selling range of perfumes.

But Jade’s racist rant towards Shilpa Shetty during her comeback to Big Brother’s celebrity edition in 2007 sent shockwaves across the nation, causing her to become the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons. The controversial reality TV star later apologised for her actions, but the damage had been done. However, Jade didn’t let the incident define her and bounced back by appearing on the Indian edition of Big Brother, Bigg Boss, in 2008.

Unfortunately, her appearance on the show was cut short when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 27. When Jade spoke with her doctor in the diary room of the show, she initially believed it was a hoax. She told Now Magazine: “I asked the doctor what hospital I was born in. When he answered right, I thought: ‘Oh my God, it’s real. Then he said: ‘Jade, you’ve got cancer’. The last thing on this planet I expected was for them to tell me that. I knew it wasn’t a joke then. My heart sank.”

As well as the fact that Jade was so young when she died from cervical cancer, her symptoms were also unique. She was just 15 and not sexually active when she first contracted the human papilloma virus (HPV) and abnormal cells were found during a smear test. After she had them removed, they returned two years later and a second surgery was needed to burn them away. But following the birth of her second son Freddy in 2004, doctors found more abnormal cells.

However, Jade claimed medical professionals were against removing any more of her cervix in case it became too short to carry future pregnancies. She had rogue cells removed three more times, but ignored a letter asking her to return a fourth time out of fear. She said: “When I heard I had more abnormal cells I thought, ‘this is the fourth time I’ve been told I need to have the same operation now’. Once you have them burnt off they shouldn’t come back. I was too scared.”

In 2005 and 2006, Jade was rushed to the hospital both times after complaints of stomach pains and heavy bleeding. She tested for both ovarian and bowel cancer, but both tests came back clear. Just a year later in March 2007, Jade fell pregnant to boyfriend Jack Tweed but at this point, the cancer was already growing and she sadly miscarried at 12 weeks. 14 months would pass until she was finally correctly diagnosed.