Jade Goody Dies

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Her death doesn't affect my life in any way, especially as Japan gets no news about her anyway. But joking about someone's death, whether you dislike them or not, is just a little distasteful.

[TCO]

To be fair though, she looked beautiful at her wedding, there wasn't a hair out of place.

[therockbox]

Although she was frequently vilified, Jade Goody's final days as a victim of cancer saw her transformed into a serious figure whose frankness about her illness was deemed by some to be beneficial to the wider community. Her decision to live out those days in public earned her large sums of money from the media, but she insisted that her motive for this was to assure the future of the two young sons she left behind.

The first time she was mentioned in the press, in May 2002, Jade Goody was described as a "pretty dental nurse, 20, from London". But 24 hours later, as she began her gobby, ignorant trajectory in the Big Brother house, The People went on the attack under the headline: "Why we must lob the gob". Before long it was open season. The Sun called her a hippo, then a baboon, before launching its campaign to "vote out the pig". The Sunday Mirror rejected porcine comparisons on the ground that it was "insulting – to pigs".

Inside the "BB" house, Jade Goody found herself in bed with her male housemate, PJ, who ran away, shrieking. Her drunken striptease in a drinking game rigged by the male contestants ("Me kebab is showing!") forced even Channel 4 to blank the screen. "Here she is: fat-rolled, Michelin girl Jade in all her preposterous lack of glory," thundered the Daily Mirror the next day. "Naked as the day Dr Frankenstein made her." Jade's then boyfriend chipped in: "She's a sex-crazed, lying, two-timing drunken tart, and I hope I never see her again."

Jade Goody's main function, as she put it herself, was to be an "escape goat". She was the modern equivalent of Barnum and Bailey's "bearded lady" – a pressure valve for the vindictive rage of the mob and their tribunes in the Red Tops. Polls suggested that she was more unpopular even than Saddam Hussein (a boxer, said Jade). Such was the public venom it was feared that things might get dangerously out of hand. Some people actually travelled across England to the BB house, where they waved placards and greeted her emergence, spilling out of a pink dress several sizes too small, with chants of "burn the pig". Channel 4 was even reported to be considering smuggling her out of the country for her own safety.

But, no sooner had she hit rock bottom then she bounced back up again. The tabloid campaign had developed into such an orgy of hate that it inspired a retaliation in her defence. Viewers, it seemed, warmed to her malapropisms, guilelessness and obvious vulnerability.

Told by their readers that they had gone too far, journalists began backpedalling furiously. The Mirror congratulated itself on "a brilliantly conceived clandestine campaign to drum up the sympathy vote for the divine Ms Jade Goody". Not to be outdone, the Sun sought to rehabilitate the "princess of Bermondsey". Both papers started the bidding for her "story" at £100,000 – a figure that quickly escalated.

Finding they had struck gold, promoters and advertisers came flocking to her door. For the next four years it was impossible to turn on the television without seeing Jade Goody on some reality show or other. She even had her own scent, Shh!, ("Not actually a smell of me, like. It's not my BO or my feet cheese or nothing") which became a best-seller. There were also Jade Goody fitness DVDs. Along the way, she acquired, cheated on and discarded several boyfriends, gave birth to two sons (the romances, break-ups, pregnancies and births all sold to magazines on an exclusive basis), changed from blonde to brunette and shed three stone.

By 2007, when she made her second visit to the Big Brother house on Celebrity Big Brother (alongside her surgically-enhanced mother Jackie), Jade Goody had become, by her own account, "the most 25th inferlential person in the world" and a bona fide celebrity. She was said to be worth £2-4 million, was the proud owner of three "footballers' wives" style homes, a £60,000 turbo-charged Range Rover and was the "author" of a best-selling autobiography.

It did not take long for the Goody magic to work the second time around, either. "I'm out of here. I'm not ----ing waiting on some moron and her family," said Donny Tourette, a Sid Vicious-wannabe. Next to pack his bags was Ken Russell, who could not continue to live "in a society riddled with evil and hatred" (believed to be a reference to Jackiey rather than Jade).

But what should have been a triumphant return to the scene of past glories soon began to turn to disaster, when Jade Goody became embroiled in a row over an Oxo cube with the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. Days of tension, during which Jade called her nemesis "Shilpa Poppadom", ended in a foul-mouthed tirade from Jade in which insults such as "Shilpa ----awallah" and "go back to the slums" were bandied about. Booted out of the house, Jade Goody was branded a racist bully. In India she was burned in effigy. The television regulator Ofcom received more than 40,000 complaints from outraged members of the public.

Retribution was swift. Her scent was withdrawn from the stores; the paperback version of her autobiography was scrapped; the television offers dried up and she was dropped by her management company. "Jade, We Hate You – The Nation Turns On Thick Racist Bully!" ran one headline.

Although Jade Goody's value to Big Brother was her famously tactless "motormouth", a career nosedive was not part of the script. The show's producers, Endemol, had recorded a new chat show pilot with her as host and stood to lose money – as did many others. There followed a well-orchestrated campaign of rehabilitation, featuring a public plea for forgiveness and a stage-managed "kiss-and-make-up" session with Shilpa Shetty, followed by a "goodwill visit" to India, where she visited a children's charity, apologised (again) and made a donation.

Jade's rehabilitation was crowned by an invitation by the makers of Bigg Boss, India's equivalent of Big Brother, to take part in their show. She did so in August 2008 and, in the first episode, was seen learning to dance to Bollywood songs. But she was forced to leave abruptly after being told she had cervical cancer.

To most people, the prospect of eight weeks' confinement in the exhibitionistic surroundings of the Big Brother house would be the closest thing to hell. Jade Goody seemed to regard it as a vision of paradise. When she went in through the sliding door, she explained, "It was like no one could get me or hurt me in there... I was safe." Her life story reveals why.

Jade Koresha Lorraine Goody was born in Bermondsey on June 5 1981. Her father, of mixed race parentage, was a heroin addict and small-time pimp turned career criminal who spent most of his life behind bars, eventually dying of an overdose in the lavatory of the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Bournemouth. Her paternal grandmother, who once ran a brothel, had a crack habit. Her mother, Jackiey, the daughter of a market trader, was described in her daughter's autobiography as a petty thief and "clipper" – a woman who pretends to be a prostitute but runs off with the money instead. Jackiey threw Jade's father out of the house when Jade was 18 months old, after discovering that he had hidden guns under her cot. To add to the confusion, Jackiey herself later came out as a lesbian.

Jade rolled her first joint for her mother when she was four and she took her first puff aged five, an event celebrated by her mother in a family photograph. At about the same time Jackiey was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash and lost the use of her left arm, as a result of which Jade spent much of her childhood in the role of carer. Not that Jackiey appeared grateful. She once beat her daughter so badly she ended up in care.

Jade's schooling, not surprisingly, was chaotic. She was expelled from one school after her mother hit another mother, and from a second when her mother hit a teacher. "Most of my mates at school would arrive home to see their mum hanging out the washing or putting the dinner on," Jade recalled. "I'd come round the corner hoping not to see another police car outside the house."

It was not long before Jade began dishing out the bullying herself, once biting off a chunk of another girl's earlobe ("It wasn't a huge part of her earlobe or anything, just the tip").

As her performance on Big Brother made clear, her years of formal education had left Jade Goody with little knowledge. She thought that a ferret was a bird and abscess a green French drink; that Pistachio painted the Mona Lisa; that Sherlock Holmes invented the flush lavatory; that East Anglia ("East Angular" in Jade-speak) was abroad; and that Rio de Janeiro was "a bloke, innit?"

She eventually attended Bacon's College in Rotherhithe – one of Britain's first City Technology colleges. Following her first appearance on Big Brother, the college felt constrained to emphasise that its exam results had improved since Jade left. She then attended a training course at the Bosco Centre, an institution set up to "serve some of the most disadvantaged and disengaged young people in the community". Again association with Jade caused embarrassment as the centre pointed out that some of its alumni had gone on to university.

After leaving school, Jade eventually found employment as a dental nurse. When she applied for a place in the Big Brother house, however, she was up to her ears in debt, had recently been evicted from a flat in Rotherhithe over £3,000 of unpaid rent and was facing jail over an unpaid council tax bill.

Later, as well as her earnings from celebrity appearances, exclusive interviews, product marketing and the like, Jade Goody opened a beauty salon in Hertfordshire. She chose the name Ugly's, thinking it would appeal to the woman who thinks: "'I'm feeling ugly because I've got no make-up on, no nails and hairy legs,' then they come into our salon and we make them beautiful." The venture rapidly went bust.

Given Jade Goody's status as a media creation, it was perhaps inevitable that when stories began to circulate of a "cancer scare", some assumed it was just another tasteless publicity stunt. That did not prove to be the case. After her initial diagnosis last year, it quickly became clear that her cancer was at an advanced stage. Radical surgery failed to stem its progress and early last month she was told it was terminal.

There was time for one more twist however, as, on February 22, in a blaze of publicity which was said to have earned her close to £1 million, Jade Goody married a 21-year-old carpet fitter, Jack Tweed. In order that the couple could spend their wedding night together, he was allowed to ignore the 7pm curfew which was a condition of his early release from an 18-month prison sentence imposed for assaulting a 16-year-old boy with a golf club.

Her husband survives her with her two sons.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries...Jade-Goody.html

Her obituary from the Daily Telegraph, which pretty much sums her up. She was a thick, vacuous twat whose only claim to fame was being stunningly stupid. Yeah, it's sad her kids will grow up without a mum, but that's where the sadness ends. The reaction to her having cancer has been ridiculous, insulting and basically encapsulates everything that's wrong with celebrity culture. Air is wasted on all those mugs that held vigils outside her house, calling her a princess and a wonderful woman. No. She was a daft, dopey cunt who showed no dignity in life and none in death.

I feel sorry for her kids. I can even muster up some sympathy for her for having to suffer through such an awful illness at a very young age. But all these grief tourists that have pandered to her can fuck off.

Edited March 22, 2009 by therockbox

[Blue Rosler]

Why when Jade Goody dies (someone who it's just trendy to dislike ... how many actually know anything about her or her life?) there's this reaction? But when, let's say Test dies, there's a huge OMG moment on the board - when as Lowerdeck's argument states he only had a minor role in the spotlight? He was hardly a World Champion, or known outside of the industry? Nobody is saying "Oh, I am a steroid. I'm pleased Test died. Why couldn't I be in some decent wrestler like John Cena "

The fact is Jade Goody is a better parent than most of the board will be. She has three properties left to her kids in the will, and has earnt enough money to send them to private school and the best Universities. Is that bad parenting? Is that something a person with an "amoeba like" brain does?

And everyone on this board, put in her position, would have done exactly the same. Around 10 million pounds (after agent fees) for doing what? Nah, I'd suppose you'd just stay working in Woolworths or whatever job you have, not trying to make a better life for yourself or your family.

[Blue Rosler]

Also you can take any Big Brother housemate and take his/her worst moments and create an article like that.

[therockbox]

Having lots of money and houses doesn't make you a good parent, and to suggest so is an insult to every parent that has managed to bring up their kids without whoring themselves out and making themselves look like a twat in the press week in, week out.

[Blue Rosler]

I like how you completely ignored the "best education possible for her kids" point. Better than most parents just scrounging off benefits and letting their kid go to the local state school.

[therockbox]

Given the family members that will now be in charge of taking care of them, I can't see them making the most of it. Happy enough to get off your high horse now?

[Lowerdeck]

Why when Jade Goody dies (someone who it's just trendy to dislike ... how many actually know anything about her or her life?) there's this reaction? But when, let's say Test dies, there's a huge OMG moment on the board - when as Lowerdeck's argument states he only had a minor role in the spotlight? He was hardly a World Champion, or known outside of the industry? Nobody is saying "Oh, I am a steroid. I'm pleased Test died. Why couldn't I be in some decent wrestler like John Cena "

Going with my argument - there was three lines in the sports section saying Test died, buried in the middle of stories insignificant enough to have larger focus articles. Apparently in the UK, she's front page news nationally. Yahoo thinks she's important enough to put on the US version of their front page in the news section.

Why is any celebrity front page news? Besides entertaining you and others, what impact do they have on the entire world around you? We have an entertainment section in the newspaper for a reason.

[Stevie B]

I would hardly call the death of Jade Goody entertaining >_<

[TheRossWalker]

Why when Jade Goody dies (someone who it's just trendy to dislike ... how many actually know anything about her or her life?) there's this reaction? But when, let's say Test dies, there's a huge OMG moment on the board - when as Lowerdeck's argument states he only had a minor role in the spotlight? He was hardly a World Champion, or known outside of the industry? Nobody is saying "Oh, I am a steroid. I'm pleased Test died. Why couldn't I be in some decent wrestler like John Cena "

The fact is Jade Goody is a better parent than most of the board will be. She has three properties left to her kids in the will, and has earnt enough money to send them to private school and the best Universities. Is that bad parenting? Is that something a person with an "amoeba like" brain does?

And everyone on this board, put in her position, would have done exactly the same. Around 10 million pounds (after agent fees) for doing what? Nah, I'd suppose you'd just stay working in Woolworths or whatever job you have, not trying to make a better life for yourself or your family.

I don't think anyone's going to be working in Woolworths for a while.

[All Your Bass]

Boo fucking hoo.

I love how everybody has suddenly forgotten themselves wishing death upon her a few months before all this happened. She spent her dying days how she spent her entire life - milking the media for all it's worth. And no, Hammy, that isn't a good thing. It's people like her that fuck up the rest of the economy by raking in money for doing fuck all. She had enough money for her kids before all this, so she can shove that excuse up her arse. As far as I'm concerned it's just one less useless moron to worry about.

Very good point.

It just literally takes the piss with the amount of media coverage she has been getting. OK magazine stories here, some other fucking reality shite magazine there. At the end of the day, she was not a celebrity. Not a chance in hell. She was some dumb idiot that went on a reality tv show twice; 1st making herself the dumbest woman in Britain; 2nd by showing she was a racist and bullied people leading to Carphone Warehouse pulling their sponsership of the show because of the way she acted. What pisses me off is that everyday someone dies of some sort of cancer, and what does their family get? Do they get the magazine deals to tell their story? No. They get nothing, just an average person who the media doesn't care about. Jade Goody did not earn one single pound of the money she received from the coverage of her life up until she died. It's a fucking joke

[Dingle]

Woolworths isn't open anymore ¬_¬.

[NobBe Nobbs]

The fact is Jade Goody is a better parent than most of the board will be.

Bluey you know I like you, but you are so far past the corner of wrong with this you're in France. In what fucking stupid universe that you live in does "leaving shitloads of money" make one a good parent? You of all people should know that shit ain't true.

I like how you completely ignored the "best education possible for her kids" point. Better than most parents just scrounging off benefits and letting their kid go to the local state school.

What's wrong with state schools? Nothing.

Edited March 22, 2009 by Mike QuackenBe

[Nerf]

I like how you completely ignored the "best education possible for her kids" point. Better than most parents just scrounging off benefits and letting their kid go to the local state school.

That right there is when your arguement lost any credibility.

Get your head in the real world. The average person doesn't go to private schools, they don't have a massive house (let alone three). And a public school is a bad thing? Fuck off you spoiled prick.

[IAceI]

My school gave me the best education you could wish for.

If they are armed, don't piss them off.

If you do piss them off, learn to be elusive.

You learn quicker that way, much more useful than looking for x on a triangle, that's for sure.

[Bigal]

I'm not going to pretend that Jade Goody's death has bothered me in any real way.

She was a pain in the arse, and she was a pointless celebrity, but really, in the reality TV age there's more and more pointless celebs, so it's not as if she's the devil incarnate; she took advantage of the opportunities presented to her. Just one comment that jumped out at me; Nerf, the idea that pointless celebs are what fucked up the economy is nonsense. Goody may have been a millionaire, but she never even approached the amount of money that the banks were fucking around with.

I think it's ridiculous to suggest that the media sensation after she was diagnosed was an attempt by her to milk the last publicity wagon she was ever going to have; she did it to leave money for her kids, and to publicise her disease (which hopefully will have long-term benefits). It was tacky, sure, but I can't honestly say that I wouldn't do the same thing in her situation, because I haven't been in it, and unless any of us are terminally ill, we can't say for sure either.

It seems like a few people on here have a bit of a chip on their shoulder. I'm not going to suggest for a moment that the definition of a good parent is someone who makes sure their child has loads of money, private education and lots of holidays; I'm from a working class family, I'm the first on both sides to go to university, and I'll always be grateful to my parents for how they've raised me and instilled at least somewhat of a drive in me.

Money doesn't make you a good parent, of course, but a good parent worries about their children. It's hard to imagine the worry that Jade Goody, or any other terminally ill person with young children, must have been going through, and she did what any parent would do; what she thought to be best for her kids. I'm not saying that any parent would have encouraged the same media circus, but they would have done what they thought was best for the kids.

So I'm not going to be shedding any tears, but I'm also not going to damn her to hell before she's even cold.

[9 to 5]

Money doesn't make a good parent. Using whatever resources you have to provide for them does.

As for "best" schools, me, Spee and Jouzy for the win.

[thuganomic]

I think Bluey's argument is not that she's a good parent because she left her kids a bunch of money. It's more along the lines of she can't be that bad a person if everything she did (at least in some part) was for her kids.

[Nerf]

So she says.

And Bigal, you can't say that giving somebody millions of pounds (for doing fuck all, but that's besides the point) is going to help the economy any. We're in a financial crisis, and yet we can afford to throw tons of it her way. Ergo, that money could go into our system and attempt to restore the current problems.