Their relationship was the stuff of tabloid dreams. Jade Goody was the Big Brother star and Jack Tweed was the cheeky chappy, who was best friends with then-unknown TOWIE star Mark Wright and an established face on the Essex party scene.
All of sudden, when the pair started dating in 2006, he became one of the most recognisable faces in Britain.
The couple endured a break-up and reunion, Jack’s imprisonment and subsequent curfew, a miscarriage, Jade’s infamous race row and her tragic cancer battle before tying the knot in February 2009 – just one month before her death at age 27.
Since his wife’s death, Jack, who is now working as an electrician and in a relationship with Ellis Sargeant, has been plagued by drama, living through one scandal to another in the wake of becoming a widower aged just 21.
One month after her death, Jack was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for assault, and was accused of rape the following year – while also being left broke and banned from seeing Jade’s two sons Bobby, 22, and Freddie, 20, by their father Jeff Brazier.
Now, with Freddie about to become a father for the first time it’s a poignant moment for Jack that his late wife’s first grandchild will come into the world, and it’s unlikely he will have any involvement in the child’s life.
How Jack Tweed’s life derailed after Jade Goody’s death: Husband wasn’t allowed to see boys he ‘raised’, was left with no money, imprisoned and battled rape accusation (Jack and Jade pictured in February 2009, one month before her death)
After her death, Jack was banned from seeing Jade’s two sons Bobby, 22, and Freddie, 20, by their father Jeff Brazier
Jack is now working as an electrician and living with his girlfriend Ellis Sargeant
JADE’S BOYS
After Jade’s death, Jack was banned from visitations by the boys’ dad, TV presenter Jeff Brazier, when he ended up in prison – despite Jack making bold claims about Jeff’s parenting prior to Jade’s death.
Jade split from the father of her sons Jeff while she was pregnant with their younger son child in 2004, after two years together.
Two years later, she met Jack and once they moved in together, he claimed he stepped into the role of ‘Dad’.
He insisted he ‘loved them like they was my own’ – going as far as to say that he was their ‘real father figure’ while Jade was alive.
He said: ‘I brought them up for four years. Jeff used to only be around once a month for the weekend.’
After Jade’s death, Jack was banned from visitations by the boys’ dad, TV presenter Jeff Brazier, when he ended up in prison – despite Jack making bold claims about Jeff’s parenting prior to Jade’s death (Freddie and Bobby L-R in 2022)
Jack did go on to acknowledge that Jeff has been a great dad to the kids but remained adamant that Jade wanted him to adopt them at the time.
In 2019, Jack revealed: ‘Jeff stopped me from seeing the boys. At that time, I was getting into trouble and I was off the rails – so Jeff was probably right to do that.
‘Now he’s seen I’ve sorted myself out, so he got in touch and said the boys had been asking about me. They came around to mine for tea and Jeff was there so it felt like an awkward first date!’
Despite their previous troubles, in 2023, Jack said of Jeff: ‘I get on with Jeff. We’re not close mates and we don’t speak all the time but it’s all very civil and that is the main thing.’
Jack is pictured with Freddie ahead of his wedding to Jade at t Down Hall Country House Hotel in February 2009
Jade split from the father of her sons Jeff while she was pregnant with their youngest child in 2004, after two years together, and two years before meeting Jack (Jade and Jeff pictured in 2003)
MONEY TROUBLES
When Jack first found love with Jade, the duo were plagued with cruel whispers that he was using the star for her money.
In light of this, many assumed he would have been well looked after when she passed away however it transpired he did not receive any money from the star – only inheriting a £14,000 six year old Volkswagen.
Jade attempted to spread out their funds equally, including the £1million OK! Magazine paid for their wedding pictures but Jack insists he gave that to the boys.
Jade repeatedly voiced her desire for her money to be used to put her boys through private education, something that was later questioned.
He said: ‘I didn’t take a penny from her. Nothing. She was lying in the hospital bed trying to buy me a flat. I told her no…
‘She wanted to make sure I was alright. She knew I was young. She knew I loved her to absolute pieces. And she knew if she wasn’t there I wouldn’t know what to do.’
In 2020, Jack expressed concern that the funds had ‘vanished’ and acknowledged his lack of oversight as a named beneficiary.
He told The Sun, ‘I don’t want to accuse anyone because I don’t know the full story but something doesn’t seem right. Something doesn’t add up.’
He regretted not being more vigilant with her money, saying: ‘I probably should have been more involved with the money situation, seeing where it all went and making sure the kids got it and it didn’t get wasted by anyone…
‘But it didn’t feel right for me to get involved in that at the time.’
When Jack first found love with Jade, the duo were plagued with cruel whispers that he was using the star for her money (the couple pictured on a shopping spree in 2007)
LEGAL WOES
Jack has been plagued by legal woes both before and after Jade’s death, having been imprisoned in December 2006 for assaulting a 16-year-old, shortly after starting his romance with Jade and moving into her home.
History repeated itself just one month after Jade’s death when Jack was jailed for 12 weeks at Harlow Magistrates Court for an assault on a taxi driver.
Chairwoman of the Magistrates, Margaret Webb, told Jack his recent bereavement had been considered in passing the sentence.
She said: ‘We have borne in mind the recent change in your personal circumstances and have reflected this in the length of the sentence, which would otherwise have been 18 weeks’.
In 2011, Jack was given community service for punching Tom Grantham, 21, outside Deuces Bar and Lounge, in Chigwell – the club he owned with Mark Wright.
He was given an 18-month supervision order, issued 100 hours of unpaid work and ordered to enrol in a programme to prevent reoffending.
He admitted common assault and was also told to pay £625 costs.
Alongside his convictions for brawling, Jack was accused of raping a teenager just six months after Jade’s death – leading to a hellish trial for the widower.
The trial heard the student and three friends went to a club night promoted by Jack at the Embassy Club in Mayfair in September 2009. The girl had ‘a few’ drinks, including rose wine, vodka lemonade, a sip of champagne, and a ‘dab’ of cocaine.
Jack has been plagued with legal woes both before and after Jade’s death, having been imprisoned in December 2006 for assaulting a 16-year-old, shortly after starting his romance with Jade and moving into her home (pictured heading to court in 2009)
She and her friends were invited to Jack’s rented townhouse in the gated community of Repton Park, East London, at around 3am.
The woman claimed Jack forced himself on her in his house, while his friend Anthony Davis, then 26, blocked any escape route by holding the door, before having sex with the student himself.
Both men said the woman, then aged 19, consented to sex – and their lawyers successfully argued she ‘cried rape’ after her friends taunted her for having sex with two men at the same time.
Jack said in a statement read outside court by his solicitor Phil Smith: ‘I’m relieved the jury have taken a matter of minutes to see through these scurrilous and completely groundless allegations.
‘I would like to thank my legal team who fought to establish my innocence. I now wish to put the last eight months behind me and rebuild my life as a 22-year-old man.’
Max Clifford, the late, disgraced celebrity publicist who represented Jade in her final days, spoke out after the trial saying: ‘I am very pleased for Jack and his family, especially his mum, who I got to know very well when Jade was alive…
‘I hope this will be a lesson for Jack. I warned him about this kind of thing even when Jade was alive. He has become a target for girls looking to make money out of him.’
Jack is good friends with TOWIE star Mark Wright, with the pair investing together in Deuces nightclub, where Jack commited his 2011 assault (the duo pictured in 2010)
DISTANCE FROM PALS
Following Jade’s death, Jack’s friendship group changed when his close union with Mark Wright seemed to cool significantly.
The incident outside Deuces, for which Jack was convicted, saw Mark found not guilty of using threatening launguage – although he admitted ‘seeing red’.
Jack was notably absent from Mark’s stag festivities before his wedding to Michelle Keegan in 2015, while Mark later made a circle of A-list pals.
A source familiar with both men told Daily Mail’s Katie Hind: ‘After Jade died, Jack struggled and was no longer in the limelight. He was in bits, he got himself into some troubles and then he and Mark were hardly seen together again.
‘He realised he was in danger of losing it all if he didn’t clean up his act. It was all very bizarre. By the time Mark went to Vegas, Jack was no longer in Mark’s circle. It was like Mark was seeking new beginnings.’
The duo were last seen together on a stag do in Ibiza in 2023
Despite an apparent cooling in their friendship, Mark (left) and Jack (right) were seen together on a stag do in Ibiza in 2023
Jack and Jade are pictured at the start of their romance in 2006
FULL CIRCLE
After meeting Jade at just 18, Jack was sucked into the glamorous showbiz world and wowed by the financial spoils of being in the spotlight.
Following her passing however and his withdrawal from the fame game, Jack has returned to life as it was before he fell for reality royalty.
He is now back to working as an electrician – the job he gave up when he met Jade – and is living with his girlfriend Ellis.
Jack recently spoke about his new life, saying: ‘I’m good. I’m pretty settled down now, living with a girl, and work is going well so everything is alright for once. I’ve got an electrician company with my dad, so we do big commercial warehouse jobs…
‘It’s what I used to do when I first left school before I met Jade. I’ve done a full circle.’
‘I was a young apprentice when I met Jade and I remember her saying, ‘A magazine want to do a photoshoot’. I wasn’t really like that. She said they’d give us £10k each, so I was like, ‘Dad, I’m not coming to work tomorrow!”
Jack conceded that life was not all glamour in the spotlight, saying: ‘When I first started it was hard. It’s why a lot of reality stars end up in a bad way. It is difficult…
‘I used to get a lot of abuse. It really affected my confidence. I still worry about people judging me constantly.’
