Bobby Brazier Looks Dapper in Soho After Revealing Hare Krishna Conversion Amid Family Feud

Bobby Brazier looked dapper with his hair slicked back as he strolled around London’s Soho on Tuesday. 

The EastEnders star, 22, has been spending more and more time in Soho as of late after immersing himself in the religion at the Hare Krishna HQ.   

He was spotted out and about on Tuesday sporting a pair of navy loafers with a gold buckle and appeared to be wearing Hare Krishna beads around his neck. 

Bobby was carrying a Tupperware container full of food and a bag as he went for a walk wearing a grey long-sleeved sweater and tapered trousers.  

It comes after a new twist in the Brazier family feud saw it revealed that relations between Bobby and his dad Jeff had become strained. 

Only last week, Jeff’s youngest son Freddy told of his own bitter fall-out with his father.

The actor has been immersing himself in daily spiritual rituals, chanting mantras, preparing communal meals and enjoying the religion’s peaceful outlook at Soho’s Hare Krishna HQ.

The Mail revealed that Bobby has turned to the organisation – which follows a branch of the Hindu faith – after relations became strained between him and his father, TV presenter Jeff.

So difficult did things become between the pair that Bobby moved out of Jeff’s Essex home into his own Soho apartment, which is near to the Hare Krishna temple.

Jeff, resident parental expert on ITV’s This Morning, had cheered on his son for all his worth every week at Strictly. He also told Strictly viewers how strong their relationship was. But in truth, communication between the two has been scant.

Meanwhile Freddy’s difficulties with his father were apparently heightened when he tried to deepen his relationship with his grandmother, Jade’s mum Jackiey Budden.

Freddy, who starred with his dad on BBC1 show Celebrity Race Across The World, currently lives with his grandmother, despite his father’s objections. The 20-year-old also admitted to smoking cannabis with his grandmother.

While Freddy’s rebellion is public, noisy and erratic, Bobby’s is the polar opposite – yet perhaps no less hurtful for his father. Friends revealed to the Mail that Bobby, although no wild child, has been just as happy to push away his relatives as Freddy. 

Those relatives include Jeff’s wife Kate Dwyer – who both boys have had ‘ups and downs’ with, according to those who know the family. And while Bobby may not be trading insults with his dad publicly, like his younger brother, he is also seeking to distance himself from Jeff, who Freddy accused of being controlling.

A source close to the family said: ‘Bobby’s always had a spiritual side, but this is intentional. It’s clear he’s trying to leave all the fighting and noise behind. ‘Freddy’s rebellion is loud – drugs, public slanging matches and legal battles about his nana – while Bobby’s is quiet. But actually it’s just as defiant.

‘He’s turning his back on the life his Dad created for them in Essex and following his own path.’

Bobby’s Hare Krishna practice appears to be no fad. A volunteer said: ‘He’s here every Saturday without fail, he joins our kitchen session, learns the prayers – this isn’t a gimmick.’

The Brazier boys had the saddest start in life when their mother died of cervical cancer in 2009. Bobby was just five, Freddy, four. Jeff had split from Jade shortly after Freddy was born.

Following her passing, Jeff – then a host on X Factor spin-off show, the Xtra Factor – requested privacy for the boys while they grew up in Essex, before later spending time in Brighton.

He vowed to give them a stable home and rightly won much praise from the public for doing so. Both boys attended private school. Struggling to settle in, Bobby was suspended from his – and it was when he was summoned to the family’s local Costa coffee shop for a pep talk by Jeff that his model looks were noticed by a casting agent who happened to be there.

‘At private school, everyone comes from the same generationally rich families, but my parents didn’t,’ said Bobby of his unhappy school days.

‘I’ve got insight from both ends of the spectrum, so I felt like I was a bit of a black sheep.’

Last week, Freddy told the Mail of a growing distance between the family and Bobby. Get togethers are rare, though Bobby and Jeff did meet for his recent 22nd birthday on June 2.

Freddy didn’t join them though. Instead their communication on the day was a mere text to his sibling. ‘There is a sizeable wedge between Bobby and Freddy,’ says the family source.

‘It would have devastated Jade if she was to know.’

The source said Bobby was ‘deeply upset’ that Freddy did not join them on his birthday.

Insiders suggest that reconciliation between the brothers may only come once Freddy agrees to make changes to his chaotic life.

One friend notes: ‘Bobby won’t say it, but he’s disappointed in Freddy. He wants a relationship, but it needs to be healthier.

‘If he has to stay in his own lane away from the wider family, he’s completely prepared to.’