It’s the family feud that would have left its matriarch, the much-loved Jade Goody, utterly devastated.
On her death bed back in 2009, she was consumed with anxiety over how her sons Bobby and Freddy would turn out without her to bring them up.
And given the latest developments in the life of her younger son Freddy, 20, she did indeed have cause to worry.
This week, the wayward TV personality and model claimed that his grandmother – Jade’s mother – got him hooked on cannabis at the age of 12 and revealed that he had been sectioned after struggling with addiction and manic episodes.
Sources close to the Braziers say that Freddy is ‘all over the place’ as he attempts to navigate his fledgling showbusiness career.
Indeed, I am told the police had to get involved after a row with his father Jeff Brazier – who works as ITV show This Morning’s on-screen parenting expert – spiralled out of control.
It was precisely the opposite of what Jade had in mind for her beloved Freddy, who was just three when she died of cervical cancer aged 27.
But she had hoped that her mother, Jackiey Budden, would – despite her history of drug abuse – be a positive influence in her young sons.
Now Freddy and 68-year-old Jackiey – who were once ‘super close’ – are at war over his allegations about her.
Freddy Brazier, 20, is at war with his grandmother, Jackiey Budden, over his claims against her – including that she got him hooked on cannabis at the age of 12Â
‘All I’ve ever tried to do is look out for him and give him somewhere safe to be whenever he wants to – and this has really upset me that he would do this,’ Jackiey told Katie Hind
He said on his new Load Of Old Cobblers podcast: ‘My Nan is definitely the person who introduced me to reefer and got me hooked. It’s one of those things, I was 12.
‘I’ve been smoking since I was 12, I’ve been to rehab, I’ve been sectioned, I’ve had manic episodes. There’s been a real journey and it’s been a tough one.’
Freddy’s accusations about the woman he has lived with on and off for the last two years and who he affectionately calls ‘nana’, have enraged her – and prompted her to get in touch with the Daily Mail to tell her side of the story.
Jackiey, who has previously admitted that she and her grandson smoked the drug together, insists that she was not responsible for his cannabis use – and blamed his father Jeff Brazier and his wife Kate for turning her grandson against her.
In a full-throttle riposte, she said: ‘I’ve read all these things he’s said about me and I just can’t believe he’d say them. It just isn’t true at all – I can’t believe it.
‘Freddy was smoking as a kid with his mates long before he and I ever smoked together back out in Essex near Jeff’s home – he got into some bad crowds but it had nothing to do with me.
‘All I’ve ever tried to do is look out for him and give him somewhere safe to be whenever he wants to – and this has really upset me that he would do this.
‘I can only think Jeff and his little princess wife have put him up to it – but I don’t know why when everything was in a better place.’
It has been a turbulent 12 months for Freddy during which he spectacularly fell out with his father and older brother Bobby, 22.
It has been a turbulent 12 months for Freddy during which he spectacularly fell out with his father and older brother Bobby, 22, writes Katie Hind
 Jeff and Freddy are now back on speaking terms. But the 20-year-old is still ‘putting the fear of God’ into those who love him as he spirals more and more out of control
Jackiey says that she believes Jeff and ‘his little princess wife’ Kate Dwyer have put Freddy up to the accusations
Jeff even hired lawyers in an attempt to block him from seeing his grandmother, insisting she was ‘a bad influence’.
But Freddy was having none of it at the time: ‘Nothing would stop me from seeing my Nana. She’s family, and she’s the closest thing I’ve got to my mum.’
He added that he would defy any legal ruling banning contact between the two of them, travelling abroad if necessary to spend time with Jackiey.
In the face of such obstinacy, Jeff abandoned his legal action.
While he and Freddy are now back on speaking terms, the 20-year-old is still ‘putting the fear of God’ into those who love him as he spirals more and more out of control.
One family friend tells me: ‘Freddy is all over the place. He says one thing one day and the total opposite the next. One minute he wants to listen to his dad and turn his life around, by going off to rehab. A few hours later he’s changed his mind and says there are no issues and he’s furiously storming off again.
‘The girlfriend situations have been very messy, too. There was a girl he was dating a couple of months back which got serious very quickly. They moved in together and then split up after a series of really blazing rows.
‘It’s quite hard to keep up. To be honest, it’s no wonder his dad has been concerned about him.
‘The stuff with Jeff and Jackiey is kind of the tip of the iceberg with Freddy really. It’s all such a mess and it feels a long way away from any kind of resolution. It’s such a shame. It’s devastating actually.’
Freddy has sought solace in romance but that, say friends, has only caused him more turmoil.
A string of short-lived relationships with glamorous online models and influencers have come and gone, with one ending in particularly ugly circumstances, with both sides making accusations about one another to the police.
Freddy’s accusations against his grandmother are also in stark contrast to an interview he gave earlier in the year in which he said she was entirely blameless when it came to his drug use.
Until recently, he was living with Jackiey at her flat in Bermondsey, south London, but is now understood to have moved out and is spending time back in Essex with his father and with friends.
While he insists to people close to him that he hopes to find a more permanent home on his own soon, not everyone is convinced.
‘He says he wants to get his own place, but it doesn’t feel like he’s in the right frame of mind at the moment to hold down a property,’ says one.
‘He isn’t working and doesn’t have access to money left by his mum until he’s in his mid-20s, so until then he’d have to find a way of paying his own rent.
‘His modelling career hasn’t taken off in the way he had hoped it would, and he hasn’t done any TV work in a while.’
This week it emerged his older brother, Strictly Come Dancing star Bobby, 22, who is a devotee of Hare Krishna – a branch of Hinduism that emphasises devotion to a deity called Krishna – is planning to move to India to pursue his faith more intensely after recently quitting his acting role on EastEnders.
Jeff’s clashes with Freddy aren’t the only source of family tension, as his quarrels with Bobby, too, have been well documented.
One pal said: ‘This certainly wasn’t how he envisaged it all to turn out with his boys. It’s so sad.’
