Jeff Brazier says relationship to Jade Goody fell apart after they were hacked
Jeff Brazier has spoken about how his relationship with Jade Goody "disintegrated into nothing" after the pair became victims of the infamous tabloid hacking scandal.
The 39-year-old TV presenter – who has two children from his former relationship to the late reality TV star – appears on Channel 4's three-part documentary Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain, which charts Jade's rise to fame, the political landscape of that time, her racism row, and her death to cervical cancer at 27.
Goody's former personal trainer Kevin Adams – who features in the documentary – introduced Goody to Brazier, and the pair had their first child Bobby in 2003, and their second son Freddie in 2004.
"Things that were personal to us kept seemingly appearing in the paper, so many times," the former Shipwrecked star recalled. "[It was like] how did they know that?
"We were absolutely convinced that we, or people around us, were selling stories and making money off things that were contentious for us. 'You've sold a story.' I haven't done it, it must be your mate.
"Obviously the issue of trust has disintegrated into nothing."
Brazier concluded: "Looking back now it's entirely obvious we were being hacked."
Former Sunday Mirror and News of the World reporter Dan Evans revealed how he was taught to hack voicemails, and then "spent the next six months or so hacking and cracking thousands of numbers... Kylie, Ant, Dec, Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Jude Law... Jeff Brazier, and then of course Jade."
Brazier continued: "There's nothing more sinister or dishonest than that... Jade received a phone that was already pre-tampered with, and as a naive kid getting all these free things sent to you, you're like, 'Brilliant, I've got a new pink Motorola', not realising that literally everything you say is being transmitted directly to one of these reporters.
"And it made a difficult relationship virtually impossible."
In 2013, Brazier and Goody's estate settled their phone hacking cases against News of the World.
The News of the World was closed down by owner Rupert Murdoch following the revelation that the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had been hacked.
The scandal also led to the Leveson Inquiry, an MPs' inquiry and the launch of three police investigations into alleged widespread phone hacking and corruption.
Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain part 1 begins tonight (August 7) at 9pm on Channel 4.
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