Flowers being left at Jade Goody's house in Upshire, SE England
Pictured: Jade Goody [inset] has been dubbed the "Essex Princess"
Despite the publicity for the upcoming G20 summit, there is little excitement amongst ordinary Britons. Even the gloom of the recession is not the top of people’s minds. Instead, the talk on many people’s lips is the passing of reality TV celebrity Jade Goody.
The 27-year-old woman, who was born in Bermondsey in South London, died last Sunday after a battle with cervical cancer. Although many people die of cancer daily, her plight has captured the hearts of many British people.
Rise to fame
Born to a broken family, she started her career as a dental nurse. But it was her appearance on the British reality TV programme Big Brother that changed her life. She courted controversy last year after making racist remarks directed towards another competitor, Indian actress Shilpa Shetty.
Following her diagnosis of terminal cancer, she announced her intention to marry boyfriend Jack Tweed. She sold the wedding picture rights to the celebrity Magazine OK! for a reported 700,000 pounds (around 1 million U.S. dollars), which she said was to help give her two boys a good future.
Her story has dominated the news in many British newspapers. Even the more serious news media have covered the story extensively. She has often been cited as a person who became famous just for being famous.
Tributes pour in
Flowers were soon laid outside the star’s house in Essex, southeast England, after her death was announced, with fans and admirers turning up to show their respects.
Within 24 hours the dozens of bouquets had grown to several hundred. Amongst the tributes were teddy bears, balloons and cards. One card, adorning a small bear, referred to Jade Goody as “our Essex princess”. It was a sentiment expressed by many who called radio chat shows on Monday.
British actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry also elevated Goody’s celebrity status. Commenting on the micro-blogging service Twitter, Fry said, “I suppose she was a kind of Princess Diana from the wrong side of the tracks...”.
Tributes came from far and wide with many other celebrities paying their respects to the reality star. Prince Azim, the son of the Sultan of Brunei, described Jade as a “warm and lovely lady”. Even the British Prime Minister made a statement following the announcement of her death, and said he was “deeply saddened” to hear about her passing.
“She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer which will benefit thousands of women across the UK,” the Prime Minister said.
The publicity and media circus that has followed Goody to her grave has indeed increased people’s awareness of the risks of cervical cancer. In fact health clinics have even reported an increase in women demanding smear tests, an important precursor to early diagnosis.
Controversy
However, not everyone has been so adoring of Jade Goody. Her courting of the media while dying of cancer has been described as sick by some. And others have commented on her coarse and apparent racist behaviour that was seen in the television show Big Brother.
But both the criticism and the praise for Goody has only helped make her front page news for the last few weeks in many of Britain’s newspapers. “You can’t get away from it,” said one caller to BBC Essex, who ran a long phone-in programme on Monday. But many expressed the opinion that it was “tragic” whatever one thought of Jade Goody personally.
Some papers have printed supplements stretching to 16 pages, something not seen since the death of Princess Diana. As one radio commentator, Sadie Nine, said, “I don’t think even the Queen Mother had this much coverage”.
Many callers described Jade as a “lovable character” and a “nobody who made good”. One young caller told the radio station, “Jade was normal. We could all relate to her in some way or another.”
But some were cynical as to how much publicity had been given to the story. “If it hadn’t been for publicist Max Clifford we wouldn’t have seen so much coverage,” one caller said.
One pensioner thought the whole affair was not in a good taste. “The media have made too much out of it and I think she milked the media for all it was worth,” says she.
Celebrity culture
Despite calls for privacy by Jade’s family, the media were still in presence outside the Goody house and that of her newly wed husband Jack Tweed.
One photographer commented that he found it difficult to explain to his seven- year-old daughter why he was covering the story about a woman who had died. “I was lost for words,” he said, adding, “I guess it sells papers.”
It’s not just British media that have followed the story with such interest. Outside Jack Tweed’s home a German television crew was amongst the group of photographers. And at the Goody home, satellite trucks and photographer’s cars lined the narrow road while police directed traffic.
There was a constant stream of well wishers laying flowers some of which were greeted by Jade’s mother, Jackiey Budden, who came out and thanked them. As she embraced a few friends there was the rapid firing of camera shutters as fans looked on silently.
The story is likely to continue as her widowed husband Jack faces jail for assault, and a funeral scheduled for April 4th approaches. There will also be continued focus on her two young sons and their natural father Jeff Brazier. All this depicts the nature of British celebrity culture.
The G20 summit may feature highly in the serious press, but for the tabloids and in the minds of many Britons, the topic of conversation will be Jade Goody’s untimely exit after her fight with cancer.
The 27-year-old woman, who was born in Bermondsey in South London, died last Sunday after a battle with cervical cancer. Although many people die of cancer daily, her plight has captured the hearts of many British people.
Rise to fame
Born to a broken family, she started her career as a dental nurse. But it was her appearance on the British reality TV programme Big Brother that changed her life. She courted controversy last year after making racist remarks directed towards another competitor, Indian actress Shilpa Shetty.
Following her diagnosis of terminal cancer, she announced her intention to marry boyfriend Jack Tweed. She sold the wedding picture rights to the celebrity Magazine OK! for a reported 700,000 pounds (around 1 million U.S. dollars), which she said was to help give her two boys a good future.
Her story has dominated the news in many British newspapers. Even the more serious news media have covered the story extensively. She has often been cited as a person who became famous just for being famous.
Tributes pour in
Flowers were soon laid outside the star’s house in Essex, southeast England, after her death was announced, with fans and admirers turning up to show their respects.
Within 24 hours the dozens of bouquets had grown to several hundred. Amongst the tributes were teddy bears, balloons and cards. One card, adorning a small bear, referred to Jade Goody as “our Essex princess”. It was a sentiment expressed by many who called radio chat shows on Monday.
British actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry also elevated Goody’s celebrity status. Commenting on the micro-blogging service Twitter, Fry said, “I suppose she was a kind of Princess Diana from the wrong side of the tracks...”.
Tributes came from far and wide with many other celebrities paying their respects to the reality star. Prince Azim, the son of the Sultan of Brunei, described Jade as a “warm and lovely lady”. Even the British Prime Minister made a statement following the announcement of her death, and said he was “deeply saddened” to hear about her passing.
“She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer which will benefit thousands of women across the UK,” the Prime Minister said.
The publicity and media circus that has followed Goody to her grave has indeed increased people’s awareness of the risks of cervical cancer. In fact health clinics have even reported an increase in women demanding smear tests, an important precursor to early diagnosis.
Controversy
However, not everyone has been so adoring of Jade Goody. Her courting of the media while dying of cancer has been described as sick by some. And others have commented on her coarse and apparent racist behaviour that was seen in the television show Big Brother.
But both the criticism and the praise for Goody has only helped make her front page news for the last few weeks in many of Britain’s newspapers. “You can’t get away from it,” said one caller to BBC Essex, who ran a long phone-in programme on Monday. But many expressed the opinion that it was “tragic” whatever one thought of Jade Goody personally.
Some papers have printed supplements stretching to 16 pages, something not seen since the death of Princess Diana. As one radio commentator, Sadie Nine, said, “I don’t think even the Queen Mother had this much coverage”.
Many callers described Jade as a “lovable character” and a “nobody who made good”. One young caller told the radio station, “Jade was normal. We could all relate to her in some way or another.”
But some were cynical as to how much publicity had been given to the story. “If it hadn’t been for publicist Max Clifford we wouldn’t have seen so much coverage,” one caller said.
One pensioner thought the whole affair was not in a good taste. “The media have made too much out of it and I think she milked the media for all it was worth,” says she.
Celebrity culture
Despite calls for privacy by Jade’s family, the media were still in presence outside the Goody house and that of her newly wed husband Jack Tweed.
One photographer commented that he found it difficult to explain to his seven- year-old daughter why he was covering the story about a woman who had died. “I was lost for words,” he said, adding, “I guess it sells papers.”
It’s not just British media that have followed the story with such interest. Outside Jack Tweed’s home a German television crew was amongst the group of photographers. And at the Goody home, satellite trucks and photographer’s cars lined the narrow road while police directed traffic.
There was a constant stream of well wishers laying flowers some of which were greeted by Jade’s mother, Jackiey Budden, who came out and thanked them. As she embraced a few friends there was the rapid firing of camera shutters as fans looked on silently.
The story is likely to continue as her widowed husband Jack faces jail for assault, and a funeral scheduled for April 4th approaches. There will also be continued focus on her two young sons and their natural father Jeff Brazier. All this depicts the nature of British celebrity culture.
The G20 summit may feature highly in the serious press, but for the tabloids and in the minds of many Britons, the topic of conversation will be Jade Goody’s untimely exit after her fight with cancer.
Copyright Dongying Wang
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