Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English media personality and businesswoman. She rose to fame as a contestant on the third series of the Channel 4 reality show Big Brother in 2002. Following her eviction from the show, Goody went on to star in her own television programmes, which in turn led to her launching a variety of products under her own name.
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, when she was involved in the Big Brother racism controversy while appearing as a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 5. Following her eviction, she made a number of apologies, but continued to garner negative public reactions.
In August 2008, Goody participated in Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, but left the show early and returned to the UK after finding out that she had cervical cancer. By February 2009, the cancer had metastasized and she was terminally ill. Goody died from cervical cancer in the early hours of 22 March 2009, at the age of 27. 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.
Early life Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was born in King's College Hospital in London on 5 June 1981, the daughter of English mother Jackiey Budden and English-Jamaican father Andrew Goody. Her paternal grandfather, Winston Coyne, was from the West Indies and emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1956. Supporters of the far-right National Front (NF) verbally abused Goody's father. Her mother was a drug addict and her father was a pimp. Goody's father suffered from substance dependence and had a criminal history, including a four-year term for robbery. He and Budden separated when Goody was two; estranged from his daughter while Budden raised her, he died of a drug overdose in Bournemouth in August 2005. At the age of five, Goody made an uncredited appearance as a primary school student in the 1986 television film London's Burning, which later spawned the television series of the same name. Before entering the Big Brother house, Goody worked as a dental nurse and lived in Upshire, Essex, where she was still living when she died.
Career
2002–2003: Big Brother 3 When Goody appeared on Big Brother 3, she was ridiculed by the British tabloid press for her lack of general knowledge. She thought the English city of Cambridge was in London; when told that it was in East Anglia, she assumed East Anglia was outside Britain and referred to it as "East Angula". She was also criticised by the tabloid press during her time in the Big Brother house for backstabbing and an evening when she cavorted drunk and naked.
2003–2006: Initial fame and Sky Living series 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 of the 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.
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.
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".
2007–2008: Celebrity Big Brother 5 and controversy
On 5 January 2007 Goody, her boyfriend Jack Tweed and her mother entered the house for Celebrity Big Brother 5. She had just attained 25th place in a Heat poll of the world's most influential people, with lifetime earnings of £8 million. A number of complaints were received by British broadcasting regulator Ofcom about the behaviour of Jo O'Meara, Danielle Lloyd and Goody towards housemate Shilpa Shetty. By 20 January Ofcom received more than 44,500 complaints from the public (a record at the time), and Channel 4 received an additional 3,000 complaints.
Among Goody's remarks were, "I've seen how she goes in and out of people's arseholes" and Shetty "makes [her] skin crawl".<ref>CNN – IBN News – slurs against shilpa continue on show 'racism'''</ref> She also called Shetty "Shilpa Fuckawalla" and "Shilpa Poppadom". In an unaired late-night limerick game between O'Meara, Lloyd, Goody and Tweed, the word "Paki" was implied but not said. Goody allegedly wondered aloud if Lloyd used "the P-word", and referred to Shetty as "Shilpa Pashwa whoever you fucking are".
The incident triggered an international outcry, receiving extensive coverage in the Indian media (where Gordon Brown, then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, was visiting at the time). Brown condemned the programme for damaging the impression of Britain as a country of tolerance. In a 17 January statement, 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 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.Celebrity Big Brother Live, 19 January 2007 on Channel 4 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.
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 "investigating allegations of racist behaviour in the Big Brother house and will be conducting enquiries, including a review of the tapes. We will continue to liaise with Ofcom and with Endemol, whom we have strongly encouraged to ensure that any form of behaviour that could raise similar concerns, does not occur. We will continue to closely monitor the situation over the next few days. Hertfordshire Constabulary will not tolerate racism in any form and is taking these allegations seriously. The constabulary has experience of investigating and resolving incidents in the Big Brother house in past seasons".
According to a Channel 4 spokeswoman, Big Brother intervened so the contestants would "realise that what they have said has been misconstrued in the house". The idea, she said, was to allow the housemates "to explain themselves" to their fellow contestants. This was followed by a series of apologies to Shetty from the housemates, and her belief that Goody was not a racist: "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". However, Shetty was unaware of all the alleged insults (often made behind her back). Channel 4 was rebuked by Ofcom, which received more than 54,000 complaints, for its handling of the scandal.
Goody initially denied that her comments were racist: "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." On a later trip to India she apologised for her behaviour, admitting that her remarks to Shetty could be seen as racist. In a video on the BBC News website, Goody said, "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."
2008–2009: Return to the public eye, Bigg Boss and final projects Goody said in April 2008 that she planned to introduce her second fragrance line, Controversial. In mid-2008, she appeared on Bigg Boss 2, the Indian version of Big Brother, 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.
Personal life Goody had two sons during her 2002 to 2004 relationship with television presenter Jeff Brazier: Bobby, who was born in June 2003 and Freddy, who was born in September 2004. 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 on a 16-year-old boy. He served four months of an 18-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."Jade Goody is christened with sons at hospital chapel" , The Daily Telegraph, 9 March 2009; retrieved 22 March 2009. 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 and 23 February.
Illness and death