jade goody

Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody ^[1] (born June 5, 1981) is a British reality television celebrity.

Background

Goody's grandfather Winston Coyne came to Great Britain from the West Indies in 1956. He worked for London Transport and met Jacqueline Goody at a party two years later. In 1961 their first child Ingrid was born, followed in 1963 by Jade's father Andrew. When the children were still little, Winston left to live with his family in New York. He kept in touch, but two years after leaving was killed in a road accident. Andrew met Jackiey Budden, when he was 16 and she was 21.^[2]

Jade Goody was born in 1981 in Bermondsey, London. Her parents had an on-off relationship and had split for good by the time Jade was a toddler. When she was five, Goody appeared in the pilot episode of ITV's London's Burning (sometimes referred to as the 'Telemovie' episode).^[3] Interviews with some of her high school classmates have revealed accusations of bullying when Jade was younger, with Goody expelled from Bacon's College, Rotherhithe, after biting part of the ear off one of her fellow classmates.^[4] Goody worked as a dental nurse before coming to public attention in 2002 when she was a contestant in the third series of the UK version of Big Brother.

Andrew Goody died of a heroin overdose in 2005 at the age of 42.^[5] He was found slumped in the toilets at a KFC restaurant in Bournemouth, and police made first contact with Jade as his next of kin. But she did not tell the rest of her family of his death or attend his funeral.^[6]

Career

Big Brother 2002

Goody made her first television appearance on Big Brother in 2002. During her time in the house, Goody was denounced in the British tabloid press for among other things threatening to "deck" (knock out) another contestant who claimed that Goody had a verruca on her foot. She also displayed a high level of ignorance regarding general knowledge. Goody thought that the British city of Cambridge was in London. On being told that Cambridge is in East Anglia, or rather Goody's "East Angular", she assumed that this was abroad.^[7] Goody also believed that Saddam Hussein was a boxer.^[8] Fears were expressed that Goody would be physically attacked on leaving the Big Brother house.^[8]

Media career

As a result of her appearance on "Big Brother", Goody has earned an estimated £8 million fortune^[9] in other reality shows and appears almost constantly in celebrity, trivia, and gossip-oriented magazines such as heat and OK!.

After being voted 4th worst person in Britain in the poll 100 Worst Britons in 2002, Goody ranked #25 in a poll by Heat for the most influential person in the world. This bought her much ridicule after she mentioned it whilst on Celebrity Big Brother 2007^[10] and in the same sentence admitted not even knowing the meaning of the word.

On 2 May 2006, Goody published her autobiography titled Jade: My Autobiography. In June 2006 she launched her own perfume Shh..., which was claimed went into the top 3 best selling perfumes in the UK within three days of being released.^{citation needed]} Until November 2006 Goody also contributed a weekly column to NOW magazine. However, she admitted on her show Just Jade that she gave her opinions on things to the writers and they wrote the column for her.

Television

Her television appearances since have been in mainly reality television productions include What Jade Did Next, Celebrity Wife Swap, alongside Charles Ingram, Celebrity Driving School and the BBC's Celebrity Weakest Link. Goody went Back To Reality on Five with former Big Brother contestants Nick Bateman and Craig Phillips in 2004. She also appeared in Channel 4's Big Brother Panto at Christmas 2004. In September 2005 she opened a beauty salon, Ugly's, in Hertford. The preparations for opening the salon were filmed for a LIVINGtv series, Jade's Salon. The salon recently closed for unknown reasons, though she denies being in debt^[11]

On March 25, 2006 Goody won Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes. Soon after, she appeared on the ITV1 makeover show 60 Minute Makeover, redecorating her mother Jackiey's house. In July 2006, Goody appeared on The Friday Night Project as the guest host. Many of the skits made reference to her Big Brother experience and her perceived ignorance. Goody competed in Celebrity Mastermind in 2006 for Sport Relief. Her specialist subject was EastEnders, but she was beaten by Chantelle Houghton, whose specialist subject was Coronation Street.

In late 2006, Goody's latest series, Jade's PA, was aired on LivingTV.

Fitness video

On 26 December 2006, Goody released a new fitness video Jade's Shape Challenge. Goody has earned a large piece of her estimated £8 million fortune from fitness DVDs. She says that the regime of a healthy new diet and fitness regime helped her shed two stone in ten weeks and drop two dress sizes. On 10 January 2007 The Sun newspaper revealed that Goody had undergone a procedure called Smart Liposuction at the Leicester surgery of cosmetic surgeon Dr Kam Singh, the same surgeon who had given her mother a new body on the LIVINGtv/Five series "Extreme Makeover."^[12]

Charity

2006 London Marathon

Goody signed up for the 2006 London Marathon. She did not finish the course, collapsing after 34 km (21 miles) of the 42.195 km (26.2 miles) and was taken to The Royal London Hospital to recover overnight. The Sun newspaper reported that the final action of the "panic-stricken" Goody was shouting "I'm dying, I'm dying".^[13] Before the race, Goody described her preparations to TV chef, Gordon Ramsay (who completed the course), "I've been eating curry and chinese and drinking." Afterwards, she explained why she could not finish the race:

"I don't really understand miles. I didn't actually know how far it was going to be. I'll be honest, I didn't take it seriously which is really bad of me because there's people out there who actually want to do the marathon. I didn't realise how much commitment the marathon was. I had four training sessions, that's all I did. At most I could run half an hour on a treadmill."

Goody raised £565.20 for her selected charity, the NSPCC.^[14]

Return to Big Brother

On 5 January 2007 Goody, her mother Jackiey Budden, and her boyfriend Jack Tweed entered the Big Brother House for Celebrity Big Brother 2007.

Upon entering the Big Brother House, Goody was informed that she and her family (later joined by Jermaine Jackson, Shilpa Shetty and Ken Russell) would stay in the main house in luxury, while the 8 other remaining celebrities would become their servants and live in the house next door. Goody was not informed that she and her new family faced an eviction in which the public voted for their favourite to keep in the house. As a result, Jackiey had the fewest votes and was evicted on January 10, 2007 ^[15].

Fellow housemate Donny Tourette left early by scaling over the wall, saying "Mate, I'm out of here. I'm not fucking waiting hand and foot on some fucking moron and her family. I'm out."^[16] On 7 January 2007, Ken Russell asked to leave the house after arguing with Jade and her family. In a statement he said: "I don't want to live in a society riddled with evil and hatred".^[17] He left the house at 14:55.^[18] On the same day, Goody's grandparents entered the Big Brother house for a meal and left shortly after.^[19]

Accusations of Racism

During her stay in the house, Goody was accused of racially motivated bullying against her fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty ^{[20] [21] [22]} and for hypocrisy because of her support for an anti-bullying charity.^[23] A number of complaints were received by British broadcasting regulator Ofcom about the behaviour of Jo O'Meara, Danielle Lloyd and Goody towards Shetty.^[24] By 20 January, Ofcom received a record of more than 50,000 complaints from members of the public,^[25][26] while Channel 4 received an additional 3,000 complaints.^[27]

Among Jade's comments were: "I've seen how she goes in and out of people's arseholes"^[28], as well as suggesting Shetty "makes [her] skin crawl".^[29] She also referred to Shetty as 'Shilpa Poppadom'.^[30]

Despite the controversy, some Asian journalists have made it clear that they don't believe that Jade's bullying of Shilpa Shetty was racially motivated^[31]. Tommy Nagra, ex-head of the BBC's Asian programming unit, has said that the subsequent public debate surrounding Jade Goody's, Danielle Lloyd's and Jo O'Meara's actions "can only be a positive thing"^[32].

Their behaviour has created an international outcry gaining heavy coverage in the Indian media. Gordon Brown, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer visiting India at the time, condemned the programme on the grounds that he is against anything which might damage the perception that Britain is a country of tolerance.^[33] In a statement on 17 January, Channel 4 defended the programme against charges "of overt racism or racial abuse".^[34]

On 18 January, The Carphone Warehouse suspended its sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother with immediate effect over the alleged racism. The company's chief executive, Charles Dunstone, said in a statement: "Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house."^[35][36][37]. On the same day "The Perfume Shop" announced they had withdrawn Goody's perfume, Shh..., from their stores.^[38] Pharmacy chain Boots and Debenhams department stores followed suit and also pulled the perfume from their shelves.^[39][40]

Eviction and reaction

On 19 January, Goody was evicted from the Big Brother house when she received 82% of the vote. It has been reported that Channel 4, in contradiction with their own rules, and in order to limit the fallout and possible assaults against Goody^{citation needed]}:

• Told Goody, hours before her eviction, that her behaviour within the house had damaged her reputation ^[41], although this has since been officially denied by Channel 4^[42]
• Banned crowds and press from gathering outside the house to greet Goody
• Cancelled a press conference with her.^[43]

A Channel 4 spokeswoman admitted Big Brother had intervened in the latest row - but only to make contestants "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 inmates. ^[44]

Jade's grandmother Jacqueline, 69, said: "What she said to Shilpa was unforgivable. Her dad was mixed race and her grandfather black. They’d be ashamed." ^[45].

PR Guru Max Clifford stated that Goody now faces an "uphill struggle" to rescue her career, and that "Ironically, the programme that made her could be the programme that breaks her."

An editorial in tabloid newspaper The Sun said Goody's previous image was "a meticulously manufactured lie. (Goody) had shown herself to be a vile, pig-ignorant, racist bully consumed by envy."^[46]

Columnist and TV Presenter Lorraine Kelly said she hoped Goody would "now disappear into obscurity. There really has to be an end to the celebration of stupidity and ignorance."^[47]

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think everyone is delighted that we got the result we did last night. Otherwise the image of Britain across India, which is the second-biggest investor in London after America now, would have been really damaged and it would have done a lot of harm to people's jobs."^[48]

The India Tourism Office has extended an "invitation" to Jade Goody, to visit India and experience its "healing nature." ^[49]

Reconciliation efforts

Jade met with her PR and agent before being briefed on questions for her interview with BB host Davina McCall. Their TV chat was then filmed half an hour before it was screened.^[50]. In the interview afterwards with Davina McCall (who has the same agent^[51]), Goody stated that she was "disgusted with [her]self" after watching a video of the alleged bullying.^[52]. British Tabloid newspapers subsequently described this as carefully stage-managed. ^{[53] [54]}

Following eviction, Goody has done several interviews with tabloids in which she admitted that fellow contestant Shilpa Shetty had been subjected to "bullying and racism" in the programme. Goody said her behaviour towards the Bollywood star had been the biggest mistake of her life and she said she is concerned about her family receiving abuse from the public as a result of her behaviour. Goody said she needed psychological help and that she would only have herself to blame if it spelt the end of her career^[55].

In all of her post Celebrity Big Brother interviews, Goody has promised to donate her £50,000 fee from CBB and her £50,000 interview fee from the News of the World plus any other fees gained as a result of CBB to charity causes nominated by her and Shilpa Shetty. She reportedly explained, "I don't want to make a penny from this. I don't want it. I don't want money from something that is wrong. I'm going to give it all to charity." ^[56] During a second post-eviction interview with Channel 4 on spin-off show Big Brother's Little Brother Jade cried heavily, and The Sun says that according to sources Jade is 'suicidal'.^[57].

One tabloid newspaper has reported that Jade's agent John Noel (also the agent of Davina McCall, the Big Brother presenter) plans to sign up Shilpa for deals worth over £1 million when she leaves the BB house. He will stage-manage a reunion between Jade and Shilpa.^[58].

Goody has been living in fear following her comments on Celebrity Big Brother, and has had her Harlow home windows smashed ^[59] and has been dropped from Act Against Bullying (the anti-bullying charity which she supported).

Selected Filmography

• Celebrity Big Brother (2007)
• Jade's PA (2006)
• The Friday Night Project (2006)
• Just Jade (2006)
• Jade's Salon (2005)
• Wife Swap (2003)
• Celebrity Driving School (2003)
• Big Brother (2002)

Personal life

Goody had a stormy, on and off relationship with TV presenter and fellow reality television regular Jeff Brazier, the father of her two sons, Bobby Jack, born a month early on June 6, 2003 and Freddie, born in September 2004^[60].

She then had a relationship with former Aston Villa F.C. footballer Ryan Amoo from January 2005^[61], but broke up with him in June 2005 among rumours of wanting to get back together with Brazier^[62]. On 4 October 2005 Goody was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting a £16 denim jacket from an Asda supermarket in Harlow, Essex. She was later released after police decided there was not enough evidence to charge her.^[63]

Her current boyfriend is Jack Tweed, a former model who is training to become a football agent. The couple have had a series of tabloid reported public arguments, including one about an alleged affair Tweed had with 32F blonde model Anna Houghton^[64].