Jade Goody dies in her sleep — a quiet death
Posted on March 24, 2009
Filed Under East meets West, Guest Columnist | Leave a Comment
A final Good Bye to her well wishers
Jade Goody, was Britain’s first reality TV star to live and die in the glare of the media and was a one-time dental assistant whose final days were as closely chronicled in the media as her appearances on reality television, died of cervical cancer early on Sunday(22nd March 2009). The 27-year-old mother of two, who married her boyfriend in a televised ceremony only last month, died in her sleep at her home in Essex, southeast England, her publicist Max Clifford said. “Mummy’s in Heaven” splashed the Daily Mirror tabloid, with a photograph of the 27-year-old with her two sons. “At Peace on Mother’s Day,” said the Sun, noting Goody died on Sunday,died in her sleep at her home in Essex, southeast England. The national day dedicated to mothers in Britain. Although most newspapers had decried Goody for being fat, ugly and stupid when she first hit the small screen in reality television show Big Brother in 2002, she consequently won over millions of Britons. She became one of Britain’s most popular celebrities – despite a blip where she was accused of racism toward Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty – and the public were with her every step of her seven-month struggle with cancer. Phil Edgar-Jones, the television executive who selected Goody to appear on the 2002 show which made her famous, said her difficult background – her parents were drug addicts and her father spent time in jail – and her lack of education made her an unusual star, but one many people could relate to. By endlessly poring over every detail of Goody’s losing battle with the disease, newspapers, gossip magazines and broadcasters have been accused of being obsessed with someone who is famous for little more than being famous.
Even Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been asked to comment on her condition in recent weeks. Goody shot to fame in 2002 after appearing in Big Brother, a reality show in which people are locked in a house and their every move televised. Her popularity sank because of her racially charged tirades about Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. Goody was kicked off the show and demonised in the media as the row escalated into a full-scale diplomatic row between Britain and India. Initially ridiculed for her apparent lack of education, she gradually won over the public with her straight-talking style. She went on to become a regular in gossip magazines, wrote an autobiography and launched her own perfume.. Shilpa on Sunday expressed her condolences to the family of Jade Goody,”I am deeply saddened by the news but in hindsight glad she is out of pain and passed away peacefully in her sleep,” Shetty said in a statement “Words cannot express how I feel,” she said, offering her “heartfelt condolences to the family”. Shilpa who went on to win the contest, said she bore Goody no ill-will, and the pair were later reunited on the Indian version of the show, Bigg Boss, last year. Goody learnt she had cervical cancer during the programme and returned to Britain for treatment. Goody’s decision to die in the public gaze, in order to earn as much money as possible for her two young sons and publicize awareness of cervical cancer.
Somehow, I always found Jade Goody a very interesting person, and her life has been equally interesting and sad. As a writer, I always updated my readers about the latest happenings in her life. Jade had paid much more price for her faults then she actually deserved to.Today she is no more and probably this will be my last article on her, I am a bit sad and feeling choked. “May her soul rest in peace”
Tragic British reality-TV star Jade Goody kisses Jack Tweed for the last Time
Comments
Leave a Reply