JEFF Brazier has broken his silence on his marriage split from wife Kate.
The television presenter has been married to PR guru Kate for 12 years but separated earlier this year.
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Jeff Brazier has broken his silence on his marriage splitCredit: InstagramJeff and Kate have split after seven years of marriageCredit: Can Nguyen/Shutterstock
Now he has broken his silence with an emotional statement.
He said: “I’m so full of love and gratitude for Kate.
“For all we achieved, for how much we grew, for everything we endured.
“We separated in the Summer and kept it private for as long as we could to give us some time to adjust.
OVER the last 12 months, Kate Brazier has found her life completely turned upside down as a family feud, abusive behaviour, and rows over being a stay-at-home-wife rocked her marriage.
The PR guru, 35, – who took on the role as stepmum to Jeff’s grieving two sons – clung onto her marriage to Jeff Brazier for as long as she could, before finally calling it quits for good a few weeks ago. Here, insiders tell us what finally broke Kate, and reveal the heartbreaking battle she was fighting behind the scenes.
Jeff Brazier and wife Kate have split up after marrying in 2018Credit: GettyJeff’s son Freddy is said to be at the heart of the break up after a series of difficult life eventsCredit: Instagram
Our insider revealed: “The last year has been incredibly hard on all the family and unfortunately Kate is the one who has really suffered in it all.”
Last night The Sun told how Kate and Jeff, 46, who were together for twelve years, are now living apart after “a year of hell” involving issues with Freddy Brazier, 21 — Jeff’s youngest son from his relationship with tragic Big Brother star Jade Goody.
Amongst those issues was an escalating rift with stepmum Kate. In a cruel post, Freddy listed things he “hates” which included: “Step parents”, which was said to be “like a dagger in the heart” for Kate.
The insider explained: “It’s no secret that Freddy has been struggling and has a number of issues, which has meant everything else has taken a back seat.
Kate knows she’ll always come second to the boys.
Insider
“Freddy has been quite vocal about not liking Kate and is said to have been verbally abusive towards her at times.
“Kate really thinks Jeff could have stuck up for her more in it all but instead she felt pushed out.
“People seem to forget that Kate has been a mother figure to both the boys since they were very young and has really given her all to support them and Jeff.”
Kate was just 24 when she first met the boys, it was five years after their mum had died and she admits she became a part of their life “without a clue what I was doing or how to help”.
From the outside Jeff appeared to have it all under control – Bobby his oldest lad, 22, was on EastEnders and Strictly, he was living the dream hosting on This Morning and Freddy was finding his feet in the world.
But behind the occasional picture perfect instagram posts, the truth was far darker and Freddy was battling his inner demons.
Jeff immediately stepped up and made it clear that he would do what he could to make sure the baby was safe and happy – which appears to have come at the detriment to other things in his life.
Jeff tried to stop Freddy seeing his nan Jackie earlier this year – after they were pictured smoking togetherCredit: KP PicsJeff shares Freddy and Bobby with the late Jade GoodyCredit: GettyTheir wedding day in 2018 was a big turning point in Kate’s relationship with BobbyCredit: PAFreddy has split from his pregnant girlfriend Holly SwinburnCredit: PA
The insider continued: “Things reached breaking point when Freddy revealed he was having a baby.
“Jeff is incredibly involved and Kate just knows it’s going to be a chaotic nightmare. Jeff is desperate to make the situation OK for his son.
“But it’s meant the issues he had with Kate have been massively amplified by the pregnancy and its caused a lot of stress.
“Kate knows she’ll always come second to the boys – and that’s fine. She gets it. But it’s all become way too much.”
Over the weekend Jeff hinted his marriage was over in online posts and made it very clear where his priorities lay – with his soon to be extended family.
Revealing he had bought a new home, he wrote in a thinly-veiled dig: “After three years in the commuter belt to make things easy for everyone else, it was when I ultimately became a storage facility that I realised it was time to suit myself and open fields make me happy.”
He went on: “I wanted to be in a home that felt like a calm retreat for my soon-extended family.
“I realised some time ago that success equals peace and I’ve found the perfect environment for what feels like a transitional time in all our lives.”
But it seems Kate feels like the right decision has been made, she is back living in her apartment in Hackney and jetted to Vegas for the weekend for the US Grand Prix.
Kate became a mother figure in both the boys’ livesCredit: katedwyerprKate was very close to Freddy before a relationship break down
In her selfie from the trip, Kate wrote: “Possibly one of the best days of my life.”
Her words will no doubt be a crushing blow to Jeff, who is said to have been desperate to make things work after everything they have been through.
But yesterday he was not wearing his wedding ring as he reported for ITV’s Good Morning Britain from Reykjavik in Iceland.
A MOTHER FIGURE IN THEIR DARKEST TIMES
The couple first got together in 2013 before tying the knot in 2018, where the boys played a big part.
The wedding was a huge milestone for Bobby and Kate because it was the first time he told he loved her.
She recalled: “Fred says it to me every day, but Bobby is more reserved, so for me that was truly amazing and shows how far we have come.”
Bobby joked in his speech about how he struggled with their relationship initially, saying: “This is a bit awkward, but to cut a long story short, I didn’t really rate you to begin with,”
“But now I’m so glad I can genuinely tell you I love you. You being around has made things a lot easier for us boys, and we appreciate you a lot.”
Fast forward to this year though and there has been a huge shift in relationships.
Freddy, who lost mum Jade, then 27, to cervical cancer in 2009, when he was just four, heartbreakingly told his followers: “I don’t know how to love because I’ve never been loved.”
But Jeff and Kate briefly split at the end of 2022, partly due to clashes over their lifestyles — Jeff is a homebird while Kate enjoys socialising.
Back then Kate told pals she did not want to be a “stay-at-home wife”. But the couple agreed to give their marriage another go after Jeff revealed he was the loneliest he had ever been.
And things certainly looked rosy for some time – but as Freddy’s personal crisis escalated, Bobby also made a surprising decision to quit EastEnders and the spiritual lad moved to India to join a Hare Krishna commune
Jeff reluctantly backed down from his legal action in August, and while he started communicating with Freddy again sources said his relationship with him remains strained.
And it seems despite his best efforts, drama continues to follow Freddy and whether he will be back with the mother of his child by the time they are born remains to be seen. Kate for one isn’t prepared to wait around to find out.
Jeff and Kate have been contacted for comment.
Jeff is determined to support Freddy – which has put his relationshop with Kate at riskCredit: RexIt’s not the first time Kate and Jeff have split upCredit: Instagram
NBC’s new primetime comedy “Stumble” is a love letter to cheer. Or should that be “Cheer,” the hit Netflix docuseries that catapulted a sport with high-flying stunts, squad drama, bedazzled uniforms and lots of makeup, into the cultural zeitgeist?
For “Stumble” showrunners Liz and Jeff Astrof, it’s both. Like much of America, the siblings say they became obsessed with the champion cheerleaders of Navarro College and their no-nonsense coach Monica Aldama, whose exploits were captured in Greg Whiteley’s two-season series that premiered in 2020. The show broke the notion that cheerleading was simply made up of pony-tailed girls waving pompoms on the sidelines, showcasing the athleticism of the sport, its competitiveness and its diversity — the cheerleaders, male and female, came from varying social, economic and racial backgrounds.
Jeff watched the documentary at the insistence of his sister and was quickly hooked.
“I said, ‘You know what we should do? We should do a show where Monica goes down to the worst college in America. We’ll call it ‘Stumble,’” he recalls during a recent video call with Liz.
The idea tumbled in their heads for a time, but it took a while for it to lift off the ground. Both siblings were busy working on different TV projects — Liz on her Fox sitcom “Pivoting,” and Jeff on his Starz horror comedy “Shining Vale” — when the 2023 Hollywood strikes hit. But the timing allowed them to think about “Stumble” again.
“That’s when I really dug in,” Liz says.
“And we got to call Monica,” Jeff adds. “She’s our best friend. We even put that in the pitch, that she’s our best friend now.”
When I relay the sentiment to Aldama over a separate video call from New York, where the show is being filmed, she smiles and laughs. “Oh my goodness, they are the absolute best,” she says in her soft Texan twang.
The former Navarro coach serves as an executive producer on “Stumble” and also as its cheer consultant, bringing her decades of experience as one of America’s top collegiate cheer coaches. And while the show, premiering Friday and streaming next day on Peacock, takes some elements from the docuseries — it’s a mockumentary — it’s important to note that “Stumble” isn’t a one-to-one adaptation of “Cheer.”
The series follows Courteney Potter, played by Jenn Lyon (“Justified,” “Dead Boy Detectives”), a champion cheer coach at the fictional Sammy Davis Sr. Junior College, who is fired after a problematic video surfaces. Tammy Istiny, played by Kristin Chenoweth, takes over as interim coach — though she’s not as heartbroken about Courteney’s departure as she initially lets on. Courteney isn’t deterred, however, and she finds another coaching job at Headltston State Junior College in Oklahoma (the team mascot is a candy button, the town’s main industry), where she works to build a squad from the ground up. The character is very loosely based on Aldama, sporting the same flowy blouses, skinny jeans, heeled boots and all-business attitude.
Courteney Potter, center, played by Jenn Lyon, is very loosely based on Monica Aldama.
(Matt Miller / NBC)
“She is incredible,” said Aldama about Lyon. “I can tell she has put so much time into studying me [and] cheerleading coaches. She asks very thoughtful questions when it comes to how to deliver a line, or if the wording is correct. We never actually sat down and spent a long time with questions. And it’s fascinating to me because it’s body language, it’s delivery, it’s everything — she really did a great job.”
Meanwhile, the squad is composed of misfits, hotheads, third-year “seniors” and even a narcoleptic tumbler with a solid split. Some of the characters feel familiar — they’re an amalgamation of personalities from “Cheer.” Krystal (Anissa Borrego) might remind you of Gabi Butler, the cheer influencer, and Dimarcus (Jarrett Austin Brown) has a fiery spirit similar to La’Darius Marshall, whose combative relationship with Aldama came to a head in Season 2 of “Cheer.” But otherwise, the similarities are fleeting.
For Aldama, working on the series marks yet another shift in her life and career, much of it spent in Corsicana, Texas, where Navarro is located and where she still calls home. After serving as head cheer coach for nearly three decades, she retired in 2023.
“You know, it’s scary to have change,” she said. “What I have learned about being in the spotlight is that there are going to be a lot of things said about you. … I view things a lot differently now.”
Her retirement came after a series of events: First, Jerry Harris, one of the breakout stars of “Cheer,” was charged with sex crimes involving minors in 2020. Season 2 showed how the team grappled with his arrest; Harris pleaded guilty in 2022 and is currently serving a 12-year sentence. Then in early 2023, a civil lawsuit was filed by a former Navarro cheerleader, who accused Aldama of attempting to keep a sexual assault claim quiet. Aldama steadfastly denied the accusations, and her name was later dropped from the suit.
The Astrofs’ goal was to lean into the good things that “Cheer” showcased, emphasizing how much “Stumble” is a loose adaptation. “There’s darkness in everything, and we don’t go there,” said Jeff in reference to Harris. “For me and for Liz, the music is fun, the underdog nature of these kids and … seeing these actors do cheer and some of them … hadn’t even been in TV shows before. It’s like that excitement — it’s contagious. That’s what we’re looking at.”
Ultimately, the events of the past haven’t deterred Aldama from trying new pursuits. After all, her path was already curving toward Hollywood. After “Cheer” became a hit in 2020, she was cast in Season 29 of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” giving her a taste of the limelight outside of her world. She also released a memoir in 2022. Now, she’s trying her hand at scripted television with “Stumble.”
“It’s obviously very different because I am learning a lot. I ask a lot of questions,” she said. “They [Liz and Jeff] asked me many times, ‘How deep do you want to go?’ I want to be in every meeting. I want to learn. I want to hear every conversation … but I do a lot more listening than anything at this moment.”
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1.Showrunners Jeff and Liz Astrof on the set of “Stumble.”(Matt Miller / NBC)2.The cast on set with Monica Aldama, who is the show’s cheer consultant.(Danielle Mathias / NBC)3.Aldama on set.(Matt Miller / NBC)
The Astrofs have been in the industry as writers and producers for more than two decades, each creating their own projects for television. Though they’ve worked together before — Liz on Jeff’s series “Trial & Error” and on Season 2 of “Shining Vale” — it’s the first time the pair have joined forces as showrunners.
Working on “Stumble” and coming up with a pilot together was easy for the siblings (Jeff: “We wrote the whole thing on Post-it notes”). It’s evident they are close, often completing each other’s sentences in the course of the interview. And they agreed that having Aldama was essential to making the series, particularly when it came to depicting the cheer routines and getting the nomenclature right.
“We needed to have authenticity to cheer, because we didn’t know anything about [the] cheer world,” Jeff said.
“We had to have Monica,” Liz said. “I really just wanted to meet her. I wanted her to be involved in every single thing, just so I could see her every day.”
Her expertise was important to them as was getting the world of cheerleading right. To help with that, Aldama enlisted Dahlston Delgado, who was featured on “Cheer,” to work as a choreographer on the show. Together they recruited extras with cheer experience via social media and through their many contacts in the cheer world. The cast did many of the routines, but stunt doubles were used in some instances, and real cheerleaders were used as part of the Buttons, Headltston’s squad.
Aldama and Delgado were given freedom to decide what routines would look like, while the Astrofs would focus on writing the dialogue for the show. “In a script, we’ll just write, ‘The team does an incredible cheer,’” Jeff says. “We’ll be in a production meeting, and Monica and Dahlston will be like, can you explain what you mean by ‘incredible cheer’?”
They ran with the limited guidance, however, putting together routines quickly, rehearsing in a couple of hours and taping them. “I think everybody not in our world just could not believe how quickly they learned a routine, with most of them not knowing each other and not ever working together,” Aldama said of the cheer squad. “They were just talented.”
“She’s magical,” Liz said.
“Monica is, even from the pilot, she’s so good at what she does, I would let her do toe surgery on me,” Jeff said.
Kristin Chenoweth as Tammy Istiny, left, and Monica Aldama as herself in the “Stumble” pilot.
(Matt Miller / NBC)
Aldama even makes a cameo in the first episode, comforting Chenoweth’s Tammy when the Sammy Davis squad learns Courteney has been let go. While she may be used to being in front of the camera nowadays, Aldama considers what more she’d like to do behind the scenes.
“I think everybody has their strengths,” she said. “And writing … I like where I’m at right now, where I can read the script and say, ‘Well, maybe this,’ and add a little bit to it. I would definitely be open to producing other shows in the future.”
For the showrunners, the compressed timeline between when the show was picked up by NBC in July to production to air meant that they had to make some compromises, including where the show was filmed. The pilot was shot in Georgia, but they wanted to shoot the series in L.A., where the writers’ room is based, but it eventually landed in New York because of the financial incentives and it’s where much of the cast is located. (The Astrofs wouldn’t mind if it ended up in L.A. at some point.)
Nonetheless, they’re optimistic about how the show will be received and having Aldama on board to add credibility from a cheer perspective was the ultimate goal for them because they love the sport.
“We just want to be funny with heart and, like, just people root for it,” Jeff said.
