“It breaks my heart and I feel so guilty”: Jade Goody’s mum, Jackiey, writes open letter to her late daughter

The Big Brother star died in 2007 after a battle with cancer

Jade Goody

by Rosie Gizauskas |
Published on

Big Brother star Jade Goody sadly died from cervical cancer at just 27 in 2009.

Her mum, Jackiey Budden, has written a heart-wrenching open letter to her late daughter in Closer magazine close to the sixth anniversary of Jade's death, where she reveals the grief that she’s still suffering.

“I think about you every day my angel,” Jackiey wrote to her late daughter, a mum-of-two.

“I was 28 when I held you in my arms for the first time. You had jet-black curly hair and beautiful green eyes.

“We called you Jade. You were a good baby - you always slept soundly.

“When you were just four our lives were thrown into chaos. Your dad Andrew was sent to prison for armed robbery and I became a single mum.

“A year later in 1986 I was seriously injured in a motorbike accident that killed your uncle Budgie. I was hospitalised for two years while you lived with your gran.

“From that moment you became my mum. I couldn’t do anything for myself and aged just six you bathed me, cooked, cleaned and ironed when you should have been playing with your friends.

“But you were forced to play mum again when you were 16 and I started using drugs. My new partner introduced me to crack and it was frightening how quickly I became addicted.

“You would work all day long and come home to an empty fridge because I’d used all our money to buy drugs.

“With tears running down your face you would beg me to stop – but I couldn’t. It breaks my heart and I feel so guilty. I’m sorry Jade - I wish I’d been a better mum."

Read more of Jackiey’s emotional letter to Jade in this week’s Closer, out today.

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