Jade Goody

A three-part series titled Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain aired from 7 August to 21 August 2019 documenting her life from her rise to fame to her death featuring never before seen footage and contributors to the programme who had never discussed Jade publicly since her death including Davina McCall, Dermot O'Leary and her ex-partner and father of her children, Jeff Brazier.

This is a tremendous flip for the NHS screening programme. Jade Goody had a particular impact on the women the NHS struggles to reach—the young and the less well educated. The challenge for public health doctors now is to ensure that this rise is sustained, so that Jade has a long-lasting legacy.

I know that things that I don't think are necessarily racist ... could be ... And I am sincerely sorry for the pain and hurt I've caused to Shilpa's family. I am wrong ... I am wrong and I know that my words and my actions were wrong and I'm not trying to justify that in any way – I am wrong, and the people who have complained are not wrong. They're just insulted by me and I completely take that criticism.

When the news spread that Goody's cancer was terminal, medical authorities in the UK began reporting a surge in requests from women (particularly younger women) for cervical-cancer screening. This reversed a trend which had seen demand for screening decline over the past decade, with the greatest decline among women aged 25–29.

Public opinion of Goody had softened by the time of her death. Sky Living broadcast five tribute shows from 2009 to 2012, documenting her life from early childhood through her rise to fame and her final months. The last episode of Big Brother on Channel 4 featured a 15-minute tribute to Goody, praising her as the ultimate Big Brother contestant. She was one of several people to appear on the front cover of the final edition of News of the World on 10 July 2011.

In August 2008, Goody appeared on the Indian version of Big Brother, Bigg Boss, but left the show early and returned to the UK after learning that she had cervical cancer. By February 2009, the cancer had metastasized, and Goody was terminally ill. She married fellow Celebrity Big Brother contestant Jack Tweed on 22 February 2009, and died one month later, in the early hours of 22 March 2009, at the age of 27.

Goody had two sons with Jeff Brazier. In 2006 she began a relationship with Jack Tweed, who appeared with her on Celebrity Big Brother. In June 2007, she had a miscarriage. After allegations of Tweed's infidelity they broke up, later reconciling. Tweed lived with Goody and her children in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, until his imprisonment for a December 2006 assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a 16-year-old boy. He served four months of an eighteen-month sentence before his release on 27 January 2009 with electronic monitoring and a curfew. Goody and Tweed exchanged rings on 15 February in a private, informal ceremony on the banks of the River Thames, and they married on 22 February at Down Hall country house near Hatfield Heath. Goody wore a £3,500 Manuel Mota dress, a gift from Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed. The couple signed an exclusive £700,000 deal with OK! magazine for photographs of the ceremony, and Tweed was exempted from his curfew for 22–23 February.

On 4 February 2009, Goody's publicist, Max Clifford, confirmed that her cancer had spread to her liver, bowel and groin. A previous 40 per cent chance of survival was withdrawn, and she began treatment to prolong her life. On 7 February, Clifford reported that Goody had emergency surgery in London to remove a tumour on her bowel.

As a result of the publicity surrounding Goody's illness, on 13 March 2009 government health ministers agreed to review the National Health Service policy not to screen for cervical cancer until age 25 in England (age 20 in the rest of the UK). That day, she issued a press release that she was "immensely proud" to have prompted the review.

Goody died in her sleep in the early hours of 22 March 2009; her reported time of death varies by source. Her mother, husband and family friend Kevin Adams were at her bedside when she died. Goody's death was widely covered by the British media, and the BBC was criticised for its extensive coverage of her illness. The corporation later admitted on their Newswatch programme that, upon reflection, their coverage had been excessive. Shilpa Shetty, who had many confrontations with Jade when they were both on Celebrity Big Brother, visited Goody days before her death and made amends.

Sky Living aired five tributes to Goody, documenting her early life, fame and final months, from 2009 to 2012. The final episode of Big Brother on Channel 4 featured a 15-minute tribute, praising her as the ultimate Big Brother contestant.

In April 2009 Digital Spy called Goody the "ultimate reality TV star", and plans were announced for Jade the Musical. That month Michael Parkinson wrote that Goody had become media property "to be manipulated and exploited till the day she died", representing "all that is paltry and wretched about Britain". On 29 December 2009 The Independent reported that according to a tribute site, Goody was the most-mourned celebrity of 2009 and received more tributes than Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. The premiere of Big Brother 10 was dedicated to her memory, and a tribute was shown on the last episode of Ultimate Big Brother.

In October 2009 it was reported that the number of women between 25 and 64 having pap testing the United Kingdom had grown by 12 per cent during the previous year, an increase (after year-to-year declines since 2002) credited to Goody's public battle with cervical cancer. Sky News health correspondent Thomas Moore said:

Goody said in April 2008 that she planned to introduce her second fragrance line, Controversial. In mid-2008 she appeared in the Indian version of Big Brother, Bigg Boss, at a rumoured salary of £100,000. Goody entered the house on 17 August, saying in her opening videotape that the incident with Shetty was "in the past" and she was "not proud of it". Two days into the show she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and immediately withdrew, flying home to England. Scenes of Goody learning of her diagnosis were not broadcast in India.

A reality-television documentary, Living With Jade Goody, was shown in September 2008 as part of the Living With... series on Living TV. In October she opened her second beauty salon, "Homme Fatel" (for men), and her second autobiography (Jade: Catch A Falling Star, covering her time on Celebrity Big Brother 5) was published by John Blake Publishing. A documentary film, Jade's Cancer Battle, was aired on 11 December with further shows planned if Goody could participate. At the end of 2008 she played the Wicked Queen in a Christmas pantomime version of Snow White at the Theatre Royal, Lincoln to critical praise, but withdrew from the production in January 2009 for health reasons.

On 1 September 2008, it was reported that Goody's cancer was "advanced and life-threatening" and she would have surgery followed by chemotherapy. Doctors gave her a 65 per cent chance of survival. Further tests and a radical hysterectomy "went well", according to her publicist, and Goody began chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTÉ, Goody said she had begun planning her funeral, was losing her hair and had decided not to explain her illness to her children, aged 4 and 5 at the time.

Immediately criticised by the British press for her perceived lack of decorum and intelligence, Goody was dubbed by multiple outlets as "the most hated woman in Britain". The country's celebrity magazines were less derisive, publishing reports of her affable nature and competent school performance from those who knew her. Public opinion of Goody reached its most negative in January 2007, however, when she was the perpetrator of racial bullying towards Indian actress Shilpa Shetty while appearing as a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 5. Following her eviction, Goody made a number of apologies, but continued to garner negative public reactions.

On 5 January 2007 Goody, her boyfriend Jack Tweed and her mother entered the house for Celebrity Big Brother 5. She had just placed 25th in a Heat poll of the world's most influential people, with lifetime earnings of £8 million. Goody was told that she and her family (later joined by Jermaine Jackson, Shilpa Shetty and Ken Russell) would live luxuriously in the main house, with the eight remaining celebrities living in the house next door as their servants. She was not told that she and her new family faced an eviction in which the public chose whom to keep. Goody's mother was the first to be evicted, on 10 January 2007.

Goody was evicted from the Big Brother house on 19 January 2007, receiving 82 per cent of the vote when she was up against Shetty. Channel 4 prevented crowds from gathering outside the house, and cancelled her scheduled press conference. In an interview with Davina McCall shortly afterwards, Goody said she was "disgusted with [her]self" after seeing a video of the alleged bullying. Her much-publicised return to the Big Brother house was called "a terrible decision" by publicist Max Clifford: "It looks like she has ruined a very lucrative career". At this time Goody was a supporter of the anti-bullying charity Act Against Bullying, which dropped her. In an interview with the Daily Star, Goody said that her abuse of Shetty ruined her girl-next-door image.

Goody appeared in her own reality TV shows and, regularly, in celebrity, trivia and gossip-oriented women's magazines such as Heat and OK!. She participated in the 2006 London Marathon but did not finish (collapsing after 34 km [21 mi] of the 42.195-kilometre [26.219 mi] course), and recovered overnight at the Royal London Hospital. Before the marathon, Goody described her preparations to TV chef Gordon Ramsay: "I've been eating curry, Chinese and drinking." She said afterwards, "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 £565.20 for her chosen charity, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

In 2005 Goody created and introduced her own fragrance (Shh...) with distributor Jigsaw ESL, who gave its exclusive rights to Superdrug. Shh... became Superdrug's third-bestselling fragrance, behind Kylie Minogue's and Victoria Beckham's. On 2 May 2006, Jade: My Autobiography was published. That same year she won a celebrity edition of the ITV singing game show Stars in Their Eyes as Lynn Anderson performing "Rose Garden".

On 16 February 2004, Goody entered the Back to Reality house on Channel 5. The series, similar to Big Brother, featured contestants from other reality shows such as Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She was evicted on day 20.

Goody had a number of health scares during the 2000s. In 2002 (shortly before her Big Brother 3 appearance) a cervical smear test revealed abnormal cells, a possible indicator of cancer. She was tested for iridocyclitis in 2004 and bowel cancer in 2006, with negative results for each. Goody had hospital tests in early August 2008, after her fourth cancer scare; she had collapsed four times. On 19 August, while she was on the Indian reality show Bigg Boss, Goody was told that test results confirmed cervical cancer. According to her spokesperson, "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".

Although Shetty did not lodge an official complaint about racist behaviour with Big Brother, her allegations compelled police to investigate the possible classification of her treatment as "racial hatred" under Part III of the Public Order Act 1986. In a statement, the Hertfordshire police said that it was

Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English television personality. She rose to prominence when she appeared in the third series of the then-Channel 4 reality show Big Brother in 2002, and subsequently went on to star in her own television programmes and the introduction of her products after her eviction from the show.

Goody was born in Bermondsey, London, to English mother Jackiey Budden (b. 1957) and Andrew Goody (3 February 1963 – 21 August 2005), who was mixed-race of half-Jamaican and half-English heritage. Her father was a drug addict and habitual criminal who spent time in prison, including a four-year term for robbery. He and Budden separated when Goody was two; estranged from his daughter while Budden raised her, Andrew Goody died of a drug overdose in Bournemouth in August 2005.At the age of 5, Goody made an uncredited appearance as a primary school student in the 1986 television film London's Burning (filmed in her home town), which spawned the television series of the same name. Before entering the Big Brother house, Goody, a dental nurse, lived in Upshire, Waltham Abbey, Essex.