Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English media personality. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV show Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction.
In January 2007, she was a housemate in Celebrity Big Brother. During the show she was accused of racist bullying against Indian actress Shilpa Shetty. Following her eviction from the show, she admitted her actions had been wrong and she subsequently made many public apologies.
In August 2008, she appeared on the Indian version of Big Brother, Bigg Boss, but withdrew early from the show and returned to the UK after being told she had cervical cancer. In February 2009, after the cancer metastasised, she was told that it was terminal. She married Jack Tweed on 22 February 2009 and died, one month later, in the early hours of 22 March 2009.
Career
2002: Big Brother 3
When she appeared on Big Brother 3 Goody became a target of ridicule in the British tabloid press for displaying a severe lack of general knowledge for a British native. Goody thought that the English city of Cambridge was in London. On being told that Cambridge is in East Anglia, she assumed that to be abroad, and referred to it as "East Angular". She also was criticised by the tabloid press during her time in the Big Brother house for an evening during which she cavorted drunk and naked and also was criticised for "backstabbing". She avoided eviction long enough to outlast the media's apparent resentment and become popular. She also provided what was believed to be the first instance of sexual contact in Big Brother UK history, with a drunken grope with fellow housemate PJ, though it is unclear what sexual acts, if any, took place.
2002–2006: Initial fame
Goody fronted her own reality TV shows and appeared regularly in celebrity, trivia, and gossip-oriented women's magazines such as heat and OK!. Goody signed up for the 2006 London Marathon. She did not finish the course, collapsing after 34 km (21 miles) of the 42.195 km (26.2 miles), and was taken to the Royal London Hospital to recover overnight. Before the race, Goody described her preparations to TV chef, Gordon Ramsay. "I've been eating curry, Chinese and drinking." Afterwards, she explained:
"I don't really understand miles. I didn't actually know how far it was going to be. ... I didn’t want to let everyone down."
Goody raised over £550 for her chosen charity, the NSPCC.
On 2 May 2006, Goody published her autobiography titled Jade: My Autobiography and in June she launched her own fragrance, Shh ... Jade Goody. It was launched by Superdrug in the summer of 2005 and became the store's third best selling fragrance behind Kylie Minogue's and Victoria Beckham's. However, due to allegations of racism, The Perfume Shop decided to remove the fragrance from its shelves. The Perfume Shop has since resumed selling Shh... and it was in their top five best online sellers in the run-up to Christmas 2007. Until November 2006 Goody also contributed a weekly column to Now magazine.
2007: Celebrity Big Brother 5
Just before entering the house Goody ranked number 25 in a poll by heat for the most influential person in the world. Her lifetime earnings were cited to be between £2 million and £8 million by this point. On 5 January 2007 Goody, her mother Jackiey Budden, and her boyfriend Jack Tweed entered the Big Brother House for Celebrity Big Brother 2007. Upon entering the Big Brother House, Goody was informed that she and her family (later joined by Jermaine Jackson, Shilpa Shetty and Ken Russell) would stay in the main house in luxury, while the 8 other remaining celebrities would become their servants and live in the house next door. Goody was not informed that she and her new family faced an eviction in which the public voted for their favourite to keep in the house. Her mother, Jackiey, was the first to be evicted, on 10 January 2007.
Goody was accused of making derogatory and racist comments both about and to her fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty, which led to the Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy. The fact that she was supporting anti-bullying charity Act Against Bullying during these events compounded her problems. A number of complaints were received by the British broadcasting regulator Ofcom about the behaviour of Jo O'Meara, Danielle Lloyd and Goody towards Shetty. By 20 January, Ofcom received a record of more than 44,500 complaints from members of the public, while Channel 4 received an additional 3,000 complaints.
Among Goody's comments were: "I've seen how she goes in and out of people's arseholes", as well as suggesting Shetty "makes skin crawl". She also referred to Shetty as 'Shilpa Fuckawalla' and 'Shilpa Poppadom'. Goody said afterwards: "She is Indian, thinking of an Indian name and only thing I could think of was Indian food. Wasn't racial at all. It was not to offend any Indian out there." Cleo Rocos to Shetty: "I don't think there's anything racist in it." Shetty: "It is, I'm telling you." However Shetty later changed her opinion stating "I don't feel there was any racial discrimination happening from Jade's end... I think that there are a lot of insecurities from her end but it's definitely not racial," Shetty said in the show's diary room. The incident created an international outcry, gaining heavy coverage in the Indian media. Gordon Brown, then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was visiting India at the time, condemned the programme on the grounds that he is against anything which might damage the perception that Britain is a country of tolerance. In a statement on 17 January Channel 4 defended the programme against charges "of overt racism or racial abuse". Goody was evicted from the Big Brother house on 19 January 2007 receiving 82% of the vote when up against Shetty.
On 19 January, she was evicted from the Big Brother house. Channel 4 banned crowds gathering outside the house to greet Goody and cancelled a press conference with her. In her interview with Davina McCall immediately afterwards, she stated that she was "disgusted with self" after watching a video of the alleged bullying. Her much publicised return to the Big Brother house was branded "a terrible decision" by publicist Max Clifford, who also said "it looks like she has ruined a very lucrative career".
Ultimately Channel 4 received a rebuke from Ofcom over its handling of the Celebrity Big Brother race row that resulted in more than 54,000 complaints. It emerged that there were various other, unbroadcast incidents of alleged racism. They included a late night "limerick game" between O'Meara, Lloyd, Goody and her boyfriend Jack Tweed in which the use of the word "Paki" was allegedly implied but not said. In the others, Goody speculated on whether Lloyd used "the p-word" and Goody referred to the Bollywood actress as "Shilpa Pashwa whoever you fucking are".
2007–2009: Return to the public eye
Goody lent her face and name to a cookbook, Christmas Dinner with Jade Goody, which specialised in traditional Christmas food. The book was released with a DVD featuring Goody and her two sons.
In late 2007 and early 2008, several public polls put Goody in an unfavourable light.In early 2008 she purchased a brand new Bentley Continental GTC sports car worth £130,000.
In March 2008, the Daily Mail reported Goody had become involved in "vicious fight with a female partygoer at an Essex nightclub before turning her rage onto a security guard".
Goody stated in April 2008 that she would be releasing her second perfume range, Controversial.
In 2008, Goody appeared in the Indian version of Big Brother, Bigg Boss. She was rumoured to have been offered £100,000 to take part. Goody entered the house on 17 August and in the opening VT of herself she claimed the incident with Shetty was "in the past" and that she was "not proud of it". Two days into the show, Goody was told she had cervical cancer and she subsequently withdrew, immediately flying home to England. Scenes of Goody being told of her diagnosis and her emotional reaction were not broadcast in India.
In October 2008, she released a new autobiography, Jade: Catch A Falling Star. It is published by John Blake Publishing and covers her time in Celebrity Big Brother 2007. In Christmas 2008, she played the role of the Wicked Queen in a pantomime version of Snow White at the Theatre Royal, Lincoln, and was praised for her strength and determination in doing so. Goody had to withdraw from the production in January for health reasons. A reality television documentary, Living With Jade Goody was shown in September as a one off special, as part of the Living With . . . series on Living TV. A one off film "Jade's cancer battle" was aired on 11 December. There were plans for further shows if Goody had felt able to take part.
Also in October 2008, Goody opened her second beauty salon named "Homme Fatel", catering exclusively for men.
Personal life
Prior to Goody's entry into the Big Brother house, she was a dental nurse. Goody lived with her sons in Upshire, a village in Essex. Her father, Andrew Robert Goody (February 1963 - August 2005), who was of mixed race, was a drug addict and habitual criminal, who served prison sentences including a four-year term for robbery. He and Goody's mother, Jackiey Budden (born April 1958), split up when Goody was two, and he became estranged from Goody, whilst Goody's mother brought her up in Bermondsey. Goody's father died of a drug overdose in Bournemouth, aged 42. Goody had a relationship with TV presenter and fellow reality television regular Jeff Brazier, the father of her two sons, both of whom were born in Harlow, Essex: Bobby Jack Brazier, born in 2003, and Freddie Brazier, the following year. In 2005, Goody had a six month relationship with footballer Ryan Amoo.
She was subsequently in a relationship with Jack Tweed (born 1987, Waltham Forest, Greater London), who appeared alongside her on Celebrity Big Brother. In June 2007, Goody suffered a miscarriage, during the relationship. Following numerous allegations of Tweed being unfaithful the pair broke up. Goody confirmed she was dating again, and said of Tweed: "Some days, I felt more like his mum than his lover...I’ll never date a toy boy again.". However, they resumed their relationship. Tweed lived with Goody and her children in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, until he was imprisoned. He, along with another man, were convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for attacking a 16-year-old boy in December 2006. He served four months of an eighteen-month sentence before being released, on 27 January 2009, on electronic monitoring and subject to a strict curfew. On 15 February 2009, Goody exchanged rings with Tweed in a private informal ceremony on the banks of the River Thames. Tweed and Goody married on Sunday 22 February at Down Hall country house near Hatfield Heath, Essex. The couple signed an exclusive £700,000 deal with OK! magazine for photographs of the ceremony. Tweed was granted an exemption to his curfew for the night of 22/23 February. On 3 March 2009, Tweed was convicted of common assault for attacking a taxi driver in May 2008. He is on bail until he is sentenced at Harlow Magistrates Court, which was due to take place on 26 March 2009, but has been rescheduled for 16 April 2009, to allow him to attend Goody's funeral.
Cancer
Goody had a number of health scares throughout the 2000s. In 2002, shortly before her Big Brother 3 appearance, she had a cervical smear test which revealed abnormal cells, a possible indicator of cancer. She was later tested for ovarian cancer in 2004 and bowel cancer in 2006, but was given the all-clear on each occasion. She underwent hospital tests in early August 2008 after her fourth cancer scare. She had already collapsed four times. The test results confirmed she had cervical cancer; she was told of this on 19 August 2008 while in the Indian version of Big Brother, called Bigg Boss. Her spokesperson said, "It looks like her cancer is at an early stage but we will have to wait until she gets back to Britain and sees a specialist and has more tests".
On 1 September 2008 it was reported that Goody's cancer was "advanced and life-threatening" and that she would be having an operation followed by chemotherapy. Doctors warned that her survival chance could be as low as 65%. Further tests, and a radical hysterectomy, "went well" according to her publicist, and Goody began a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
In an interview with Irish broadcasting company RTÉ she admitted having started planning her funeral. Furthermore, Goody told the broadcaster that she was losing all her hair and had decided not to explain her illness to her children.
On 4 February 2009 Max Clifford, Goody's publicist, confirmed that Goody's cancer had spread to her liver, bowel and groin. Therefore, the previous estimate of a 40% chance of survival was withdrawn and she underwent treatment to prolong her life. On 7 February, Clifford reported that Goody had undergone emergency surgery in London to remove a tumour on her bowel.
On 14 February, Clifford confirmed media reports that doctors at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London had declared her cancer as terminal and that she could be dead within weeks, and at the most was unlikely to survive more than a few more months. He stated "She was informed yesterday that tragically, she's terminally ill. She was obviously devastated."Goody then began drawing up a will and making plans for the future care of her two sons.
On 5 March 2009, Goody requested to be christened from her bed at the Royal Marsden Hospital; on 7 March she and her sons were christened. Clifford confirmed that this would be Goody's last public appearance, and that she had already said her goodbyes to her family. He stated, "We're hoping and praying that Jade pulls through, but the fact of the matter is that she now only has a short time to live." He also confirmed that doctors had said the next 24 hours were crucial to assessing how long it will be before she dies, but that she had only a very short time left regardless. Her husband Jack Tweed was allowed to extend his curfew so he could spend a final night with his wife before she said her final goodbyes to her family.
When news broke that Goody's cancer was terminal, medical authorities in the UK began reporting a surge in requests from women, particularly younger women, for screening for cervical cancer. This reversed a trend which had seen demand for screening decline overall in the past decade, with the highest decline being among women aged 25-29.
As a result of the publicity surrounding Goody's illness, on 13 March 2009 government health ministers agreed to review the NHS's policy of not offering screening for cervical cancer until the age of 25 in England (it is 20 in the rest of the UK). Goody issued a press release the same day, saying that she was "immensely proud" that she had helped prompt the review.
Death
Goody died in her sleep in the early hours of 22 March 2009. The reported exact time of her death varies by news source. Her mother Jackiey Budden, husband Jack Tweed, and family friend Kevin Adams were by Goody's bedside when she died. Her funeral service is due to take place at noon on 4 April 2009 at St John's church, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. Later that day she will be buried near her home in Epping Forest on April 4, 2009.
