Jade Goody the Musical - Does Cancer Create Saints?

Jade Goody

Jade Goody or ‘Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody’ first tasted fame (of sorts) when she appeared on the reality TV show ‘Big Brother’ in 2002.  Jade Goody essentially became famous for being moronic and for cavorting around the Big brother house drunk and naked, she was also criticised for being a ‘backstabber’ and it is believed that she was involved in Big Brothers first instance of on-air sexual contact.  Her onscreen conducts made Jade Goody into a household object of ridicule and a favoured target of the press.

Jade Goody: Big Brother 3

Jade Goody - Front Cover of The Sun

Image from The Sun's Vote Jade Goody Out Campaign

Following on from Big Brother Jade Goody hosted her own reality TV show, became a mainstay of gossip and women’s magazines, published her own autobiography and released her own signature perfume. In 2007 Jade Goody along with her mother and boyfriend re-entered the Big Brother house for Big Brother season five, during which Jade, her mother, boyfriend and several other housemates became notorious for essentially forming a racial hate group, and bombarding Indian housemate ‘Shilpa Shetty’ with racist abuse, verbal and otherwise.

Jade Goodys racist comments included referring to Shilpa Shetty as ‘Shilpa Fuckawalla’ or ‘Shilpa Poppadom’, whilst her and her cronies exchanged such comments as: ‘She wants to be white, she’s a dog’ and ‘we should lock the door, and put her out in the garden’.

Jade Goodys onscreen racism throughout Big Brother season five resulted in over 47,000 complaints being made and sparked an international outcry receiving large scale attention in the Indian media.  When Jade Goody came up against Shilpa Shetty for eviction Jade Goody was evicted with 82% of the vote, and left the Big Brother house to much public condemnation and the news that her perfume had been pulled from major retailers and that she had been dropped as a spokesperson for the charities that she supported

After leaving the Big Brother house Jade Goody at first tried to deny that there had been any racism intended on her part, and then with realisation that the entire nation had either been following her actions daily on television or read about them in newspapers she apologised, sincerely, in a last ditch effort to save something of her own career.

Following this Jade Goody kept a low profile for awhile, made a visit to India in essence to apologise to its people, and was finally booked to appear on India’s very own version of Big Brother ‘Big Boss.’, and it was during her second day within the Big Boss house that she first heard the news. Jade Goody had been diagnosed with cervical cancer; she left the Big Boss house and flew straight back to England.

And then the strangest thing happened. Jade Goody, notorious racist, bully and moron, the target of numerous hate campaigns by all the major newspapers, the woman who’d thought it somehow acceptable to refer to her Indian housemate as ‘Shilpa Fuckawala’ and ‘Shilpa Poppadom’ vanished. Jade Goody vanished, completely and utterly, and in her place remained an angel.

Now ‘the pig’ as the Sun had previously referred to Jade had become ‘the princess’, the newspapers that had until recently filled so many of their pages condemning the reality TV star adopted her like a dying daughter, with the Daily mail even running a feature comparing her to Princess Diana after the actor Stephen Fry commented that ‘Jade Goody was simply a Princess Diana from the wrong side of the tracks.’  Gordon Brown who had earlier hit out against Big Brother and condemned Jade’s racist attacks now commented: She was a courageous woman both in life and death and the whole country has admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children’, noting on Jades wish to give as many interviews and television appearances as possible prior to her death in order to raise funds to provide for her children after her death.

For the next few months Jade Goody was in the newspapers and on the television daily, all trace of her former self removed, a saintly looking shaven headed Jade spoke out about her ordeal and was rewarded with over 600,000 fans signing up to her Facebook fan page.  The media continued to follow her struggle with cancer right up until the moment she died, and then covered her funeral afterwards.  In the space of just a few months Jade Goody had be transformed from loud-mouthed bully into an Angel and daughter of a nation. 

The Sun tribute to Jade goody

In most cultures and religions people are taught that ‘bad things happen to bad people’, Karma if you will, absolution is the process, through which a catholic priest can forgive all of your sins on behalf of the Holy Trinity, but what is the name of the process through which a nations newspapers forgive on behalf of it’s people?

In April 2009, Jade Goody was named the "ultimate reality TV star" by Digital Spy and plans were announced for ‘Jade the Musical’, Jade Goody the musical, really?

Michael Parkinson wrote that Jade Goody had become property of the media "to be manipulated and exploited till the day she died" and I wondered if that was also true of us its readers and viewers. the media had led public opinion from the start, from hate through to adoration, and how easily we were led. Jade Goodys sins were absolved, and it was hard to know if that was just, after all, even really bad people get cancer. But the whole thing left me with just one question, does the media reflect public opinion or create it?