Jade Goody

[lonelymom]

Milking a disease for publicity and money perhaps? Oh and this:

Marty, I am disgusted that you think anybody would 'milk' their cancer for publicity or money! Jade is young, has two young children and would never have chosen to be put in this position just to make money or get some publicity. I'm sure, if she could, she would shrink into the background and give away every penny she owns in exchange for her life.

That YouTube footage was from her BB days, it has nothing to do with now. Since she has been diagnosed she has not acted in an undignified way at all, nothing she has done to provide for her children and to enjoy what time she has left has been undignified.

[marty]

Sorry, completely disagree. How many other people in the public eye have lived out their last days in such a tacky and tasteless way? I'm disgusted that you've absolved her of all her previous wrongdoings because she's ill, and at your naivety - can't you see she's milking the whole situation for all it's worth? Come on! Just because she has cancer doesn't make her a good person. Her 'BB days' as you refer to them are what made her. They have EVERYTHING to do with what sort of person she is. All of her previous bad behaviour shouldn't be glossed over simply because of her condition. Yes, she deserves sympathy for being ill, but nothing more. She's milking it and you've fallen for it. Please explain what she's done to deserve so much adulation & attention?

[lonelymom]

I don't know, Marty, if any other people are choosing to live out their last days in a 'tacky and tasteless' way, if they are then that's their choice, and has nothing to do with me. By the way, I don't agree that she is acting in a 'tacky and tasteless' way, I think that she is doing what makes her happy, she's not hurting me or anyone else as far as I know. If the media want to report on her every movement, that's up to them, if I get bored I'll just turn off the tv or stop reading! I have not 'absolved her or her wrongdoings because she's ill', I haven't said that at all. I simply said that the YouTube footage that you pasted a link to, was of BB stuff, it had nothing to do with your 'where's her dignity' comment, which would suggest that she has done something undignified in the last few weeks.

[gma]

I have been umming and erring about commenting on this thread but the last posts made my decision for me.

I was having dinner with some friends on Saturday and some of their friends and the subject came up. In short, one woman roundly condemned JG and Jordan while she was at it while lauding Princess Diana. After some probing (I have to confess quite annoyed probing on my part and you'll see why shortly) she eventually stated that she found the 'whole thing' (JG and Jordans manipulation ofthe press) sordid and vulgar - in essence they offended her sensibilities. PD got off as she was deemed to have been the victim.

As far as the Jordan comment from my charmless, though terribly well bred and spoken dinner companion goes - she was a little shocked and the blonde bob shivered just a little when I told her that Jordan has raised millions of pounds for charities (particularly for blind children) and was just as worthy in those terms as Diana. I know this because I work with similar charituies and her philanthropy is well known in that sector.

In short all three Jade Goody, Jordan and Diana are/were the products of our society, the direct result of our voyeuristic tendancies whether they be rubber necking on a motorway or buying Hello, or the other one, or Heat or any one of the dozens of other 'tabloid' magazines. Without BB, (and how voyeuristic can it get?), she would still be an un/poorly educated, fat, loud, dental technician's assistant from Essex. However with BB she has been able to parlay that up to several millions in the bank and a public persona which is higly marketable. I do not doubt for a moment that the cervical cancer scare was viewed in exactly the same light and the tv channel which contracted her to follow through from examination to diagnosis and thence, luckily for them as I would guess it would have been cheaper than buying it afterwards, to prognosis.

She does have two young children, she does have an idiot of a boyfriend who seems to be no less or more chav or vulgar than she, she has been given a shocking death sentance and her only crime as far as I can see is being common. Well, is that reasonable. Don't be ridiculous. Provision of a lifetime of income and support to two boys will not come cheap -she has secured a good lawyer and the money's in trust and the idiot boyfriend-now-husband will not have access to it.

The other side of this is that an extraordinary number of young women are now being tested for cervical cancer - girls, ladettes, chavs whatever, they are still being tested for a disease that most of them would never have considered as being a possibility. Even when she undertook the programme (I think for LIving channel I'm not sure) I doubt anyone thought that she would be dead inside the year.

She may be a different class to Diana, of totally different breeding, wants and lifestyle, but both of them lived in the media spotlight, used and abused it as much as they were used and abused by it and we all stood and watched.

I don't know if Jade Goody did or didn't get involved in charities and it doesn't b****y matter, but the upshot of this rant is that if you are offended by her then stay away from the reports - the media don't lead, they react, Lonelymum is right - if you don't like it, don't watch the train wreck.

[marty]

I still don’t agree, Gerrie. Here’s why.

I don’t want to watch the ‘train wreck’ and I don’t actively seek it out. I don’t buy Heat Magazine. I don’t watch Big Brother. I don’t buy tabloid newspapers. I don’t watch Living TV. Your point at the end suggests I have some control over what the television news and certain ‘reputable’ internet news sites report. I don’t. I turn on the news because I want to hear about more important issues that genuinely affect people, such as the economy, politics, crime, wars etc. I do not want to hear trivial pieces of gossip about someone EVERY DAY and certainly not someone who, to my mind, has never contributed anything of note to society. That Goody is a chav is irrelevant (although it would make her slightly more bearable if she could string a sentence together). I’d think the same if it was Tara Palmer-Tompkinson or even Princess Diana – The Daily Express has a lot to answer for! Some of the headlines in the past week have been ridiculous: “Jade Goody Feeling Unwell”. No, sh*t, Sherlock! A cancer sufferer feeling unwell – that’s newsworthy!

I also completely disagree with your comment about the media not leading. That is a very naïve comment indeed. You have it the wrong way round. The media CONSTANTLY lead. What do you think Max Clifford does exactly? The media is controlled by very powerful, politically-minded people who want to shape the way you and I think. The media whips people up into a frenzy, it creates hysteria. The media feeds people crap and they become addicted and demand more. It's junk food in news form. My view is that, rather than simply accepting this state of affairs, as you have done, we should actively express our unhappiness with the situation and, if we can, fight against it. Why should we stand for the dumbing down of society and the trivialisation of someone’s life? I don’t mind people reading Heat, if that’s what they want, but unfortunately the insipid rubbish it prints has now seeped into the mainstream media. There is nowhere safe. You can’t escape it, even if you wanted to.

Yes, Goody is a product of our society. I’d much rather she wasn’t. We’ve got it wrong and I’d like it to change. I don’t like seeing people being idolised, praised and treated as special, simply because they’ve been on TV. That’s completely crazy. People shouldn’t be putting her on a pedestal or holding her up as a great person, because quite simply, she isn’t. It’s almost taboo to say this because of her illness. Oh, no – don’t criticise the ill person! Why not? She hasn't become a good person because she's sick. Would people feel as warm towards her if she wasn’t sick? I doubt it. We should be placing more emphasis on people who do good things, like doctors, firemen, police etc, not people with a poor grasp of geography who bully others on a tv show. People in this country place undue importance on certain aspects of people’s lives such as their clothes or what car they drive. This I despise. It’s shallow.

That more people are being tested for cancer is a good thing – yes, but I’d argue that that is simply a happy by-product, rather than deliberate on Goody’s part - she's after the money really. But now this is the case, has the constant attention given to Goody stopped? No, it carries on, unabated and people continue to lap it up. It’s sick, it’s unsightly, it’s tasteless.

[J.R.]

That more people are being tested for cancer is a good thing – yes, but I’d argue that that is simply a happy by-product, rather than deliberate on Goody’s part - she's after the money really. But now this is the case, has the constant attention given to Goody stopped? No, it carries on, unabated and people continue to lap it up. It’s sick, it’s unsightly, it’s tasteless.

Sorry Marty, but here we will have to disagree, unless of course she has actually found a way to 'take it with her'

She was blasted to fame through the media, so good luck to her if she can provide a future for her sons.

Incidently, and referring to Mary's last post, I see that Katie Price, (Jordan), is the interviewee on Piers Morgans TV show next week. Might be worth a 'watch' !

[marty]

Sorry Marty, but here we will have to disagree, unless of course she has actually found a way to 'take it with her'

Not for her, for her sons. She's already a multi-millionaire. It's just greed.

[J.R.]

I thought her toiletries and perfume business went into administration when certain stores refused to carry her lines ?

[marty]

I thought her toiletries and perfume business went into administration when certain stores refused to carry her lines ?

Bit wide of the mark, JR. See below:

Goody is now estimated to be worth £3.3 million through her appearances on reality TV, her perfume Shh..Jade Goody, backstabbing, tearful multiple apologies on radio and television, continuous cancer scares, 54,000 complaints from viewers to Ofcom and Channel 4 and many death threats, Christmas Dinner with Jade Goody (a book and DVD featuring her two sons), a brief appearance on Bigg Boss (the Indian version of Big Brother), her autobiography Jade: Catch a Falling Star, a weekly column in Now Magazine, the Wicked Queen in the pantomime Snow White, Living With Jade Goody TV documentary, beauty salons called Homme Fatal catering exclusively for men, relationships with Jeff Brazier, the father of her two sons, and footballer Ryan Amoo, who she lived with for about six months, her rows and breakups with serial prison magnet Jack Tweed whom she married courtesy of OK Magazine and Living TV - and many, many other personal appearances in magazines, and on radio and TV. Jade has also made a lot of money from setting up shots with paparazzi photographers who split the sales with her.

She owns three houses and a £60,000 turbo-charged Range Rover, and may still have the Bentley Continental GTC sports car worth £130,000. Her perfume is the fifth biggest seller in the UK with sales going up daily.

Jade Goody has sold around 120,000 copies of her autobiography, and numerous copies of her third fitness DVD. She is getting around £700,000 for the exclusive wedding pictures from OK Magazine.

Like I keep saying, she isn't hard up. This is pure greed and out and out attention seeking.

[J.R.]

Well, we'll just have to wait and see, when eventually her will is published.

[marty]

Well, we'll just have to wait and see, when eventually her will is published.

...by the highest bidder?

[blondie95]

I find the last few posts very interest reading!

I have never liked Jade Godey, however you cant help but fell so sorry for her to be told she is terminally ill at such a young age and with such young children! She has however highlighted the importance for women to be reguaraly checked and has shown how actually this particular form of cancer really can strike at any age! The number of women going for screenings has rocketed since her diagnosis and if she by publicly living out this sad part of her life has saved many other young women from a simialr fate surely that should be thought about.

As for living her life out in a disgraceful manner, I think its fair to say that had she not been dying on cancer whenever she did get married she would have sold that to magazine...thats how she makes her money so how is it any different! If anything she is stronger to get a magazine cover for such a sad and poignant moment because she know is will make her son's futures that little bit more secure.

Jade has freely admitted in many interviews that she lives her life in the public eye and she plays it for what its worth.


As for Jordan now i do actually have respect for her, she is a very intelligent business women! She has gone from page 3 model to millionaire and many different strings to her bow! She has used her wealth to help many charities and been very savvy with the media-completley playing it to make it benefit her!

[lonelymom]

As soon as the news was out that she had cancer, the media went crazy for photos. There was never any doubt that she was going to be photographed leaving hospital, going in and out of her house, going to the shops, picking up her kids from school etc. Even if she hadn't sold exclusive photo rights to a magazine, there would have been someone there with a digital camera taking secret shots to sell the newspapers. This way, Jade has made sure that she had control over the photos that are published, photos of a special day with their mum that her children will be able to cherish forever. Love her or hate her, the fact remains that she is dying, she probably has a matter of weeks to live, and I am not going to judge her on what she chooses to do in the time she has left.

She is one hell of a gutsy woman, as is Katie Price, who refused to just accept her son's disability, and works hard to improve not only his life but also the lives of other visually-impaired children.

[musicmum]

Lonelymum, I fully agree with you .Your last post said all I wanted to say. Thank you

[blondie95]

yes here here lonelymum!! I completly agree