Jade Goody was born on the 5 June, 1981. Her father who was a convicted criminal, died in 2005 and she was raised by her mother. The former dental nurse rose to fame after appearing on the Channel 4 reality show Big Brother in 2002. She was arguably one of the most famous and successful celebrities to emerge from reality TV in the UK.
Her career flourished and Jade had her own reality TV show, columns in celebrity magazines, published her autobiography, launched her own perfume range and opened her own beauty salons.
In January 2007, she was a housemate in Celebrity Big Brother. The show was extrememly controversial and Goody was accused of making racist comments to fellow contestant, Shilpa Shetty. Her career appeared to take a nose dive from that point but she made public apologies and was trying to rebuild her popularity.
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. The nation was in shock as Jade's image was plastered on tabloids and magazines.
Jade had two sons, Bobby and Freddie, with former partner Jeff Brazier, and spent the latter part of her illness ensuring that they would be financially provided for by engaging publicist Max Clifford to secure press coverage of her plight.
Determined to live her life to the full, Jade continued in the public spotlight getting married to on/off boyfriend Jack Tweed, on 22 February 2009. Jack who is electronically tagged after serving a prison sentence for assault, 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, which is due to take place on 26 March 2009.
Jade's life reads like a movie script. A true rags to riches story but with a tragic ending. Let's hope Jade's very public life and death highlights the importance of cancer testing and from that, saves lives.
