Jade Goody

Jade Goody
Born	5 June 1981 (age 26) Bermondsey, London, England
Occupation	Reality TV star
Website	www.officialjadegoody.co.uk

Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (born 5 June 1981) is a British reality television celebrity, who became famous after appearing on the Channel 4 reality show Big Brother in 2002 when she was 21 years old. She later appeared in a number of other programmes. As a participant in the 2007 series of Celebrity Big Brother, she was at the centre of allegations of bullying, racist and elitist comments against fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty, the noted Indian actress.

Early years

Goody was born 5 June 1981 in Bermondsey, South London. Her parents split up when she was a toddler. Her father, Andrew Goody, who was of mixed-race, spent four years in Wandsworth Prison for robbery and died of a heroin overdose in 2005. Meanwhile, her mother Jackiey Budden lost the use of an arm and an eye in a motorcycle accident. Goody claims in her autobiography that she didn't get much of a chance to go to school. When she was five, Goody appeared in the pilot episode of ITV's London's Burning (sometimes referred to as the 'Telemovie' episode).

Overnight fame in Big Brother 3

After leaving school she worked as a dental nurse before coming to public attention in 2002 when she became a contestant in the third series of the UK version of Big Brother.

Goody was soon a target of ridicule in the British tabloid press for displaying a high level of ignorance regarding basic general knowledge for a British native. 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. Goody also believed that Saddam Hussein was a boxer.

Since her first appearance on Big Brother some reports suggest she has made more than £4million in the past few years; however, someone who works with her put the figure closer to £2 million. Goody has fronted her own reality TV shows and appeared regularly in celebrity, trivia, and gossip-oriented women's magazines such as heat and OK!. On January 5 2007, Goody and her family returned to Big Brother, re-entering the house during Celebrity Big Brother.

Subsequent fame

Goody ranked #25 in a poll by Heat 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 and in June she launched her own fragrance, Shh . . . Jade Goody, was launched by Superdrug in the summer of 2005 and became the store's third best selling fragrance behind Kylie Minogue's and Victoria Beckham's However, due to allegations of racism, The Perfume Shop decided to remove the fragrance from its shelves.. The Perfume Shop has since started re-selling Shh... and is in their top 5 best online sellers in the run-up to Christmas 2007.

Until November 2006 Goody also contributed a weekly column to NOW magazine. In an April 2006 column Jade admitted having the Burberry nova check pattern tattooed on her left buttock.

Running for charity

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. Before the race, Goody described her preparations to TV chef, Gordon Ramsay. "I've been eating curry, chinese and drinking." Afterwards, she explained:

"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 over £500 for her chosen charity, the NSPCC.

Cookery Book

In 2007, Goody lent her face and name to a cook book specialising in traditional Christmas food. The book, entitle "Christmas Dinner with Jade Goody", came from a series of cook books by a company called "Watch It . . . Do It" who publish a series of "cooking for dummies" style books. It also came with a DVD featuring Goody and her two sons. Jade said of the company:

I was pretty useless in the kitchen but Watch it…Do it has given my confidence a huge boost and I’m actually looking forward to cooking the turkey this year! Ordinary Recipe books tend to scare me as I don’t really know the basics but with Watch it…Do it, I know that all the steps are there to follow from peeling and slicing to actually cooking. If I can follow the recipes to make a delicious Christmas dinner…anyone can! They make the perfect Xmas present!

— Jade Goody, 2007

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 .

Goody was evicted from the Big Brother house on 19 January 2007 receiving 82% of the vote when up against Shilpa Shetty.

Race row

Goody was accused of making racist comments about, and derogatory comments to, her fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty and for hypocrisy because of her support for an anti-bullying charity. A number of complaints have been received by British broadcasting regulator Ofcom about the behaviour of Jo O'Meara, Danielle Lloyd and Goody towards Shetty. By 20 January, Ofcom received a record of more than 44,500 complaints from members of the public, while Channel 4 received an additional 3,000 complaints.

Among Goody's comments were: "I've seen how she goes in and out of people's arseholes", as well as suggesting Shetty "makes [her] skin crawl". She also referred to Shetty as 'Shilpa fuckawhiler' and 'Shilpa Poppadom'. Goody said afterwards: "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." Cleo Rocos to Shetty: "I don't think there's anything racist in it." Shetty: "It is, I'm telling you." However Shetty later changed her opinion stating "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," Shetty said in the show's diary room. The incident created an international outcry, gaining heavy coverage in the Indian media. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, then British Chancellor of the Exchequer who was 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. In a statement on 17 January Channel 4 defended the programme against charges "of overt racism or racial abuse".

Ultimately Channel 4 received an unprecedented, stinging rebuke from the media watchdog Ofcom over its handling of the Celebrity Big Brother race row that resulted in more than 54,000 complaints. It emerged that there were various other, unbroadcast incidents of racism. They included a late night "limerick game" between O'Meara, Lloyd, Goody and her boyfriend Jack Tweedy in which the use of the word "Paki" was implied but not said. In the others, Goody speculated on whether Lloyd used "the p-word" and Goody referred to the Bollywood actress as "Shilpa Pashwa whoever you fucking are".

On 19 January, she was evicted. Channel 4 banned crowds gathering outside the house to greet Goody and cancelled a press conference with her. In her interview with Davina McCall immediately afterwards, she stated that she was "disgusted with [her]self" after watching a video of the alleged bullying. Her much publicised return to the Big Brother house was branded "a terrible decision" by publicist Max Clifford, who also said "it looks like she has ruined a very lucrative career".

Personal life

Goody had a relationship with TV presenter and fellow reality television regular Jeff Brazier, the father of her two sons, Bobby Jack, born on June 6, 2003, and Freddie, born in September 2004. She is currently in a relationship with Jack Tweed, who appeared alongside her on Celebrity Big Brother. As of 2008 Jade is believed to have accumulated a personal fortune of approximately £3 million from TV appearances, book deals, promotional work and her perfume line. In early 2008 she treated herself to a brand new Bentley Continental GTC sports car worth £130,000.

Television appearances

Since her debut on Big Brother, her television appearances have included:

• What Jade Did Next
• Celebrity Wife Swap, alongside Charles Ingram.
• Celebrity Driving School.
• Back To Reality on Five along with former Big Brother contestants Nick Bateman and Craig Phillips in 2004.
• Appeared in Channel 4's Big Brother Panto Christmas 2004.
• Jade's Salon - in September 2005 she opened a beauty salon, Ugly's, in Hertford. The preparations for opening the salon were filmed for a LIVINGtv series.
• Celebrity Weakest Link BBC with Anne Robinson.
• On March 25, 2006 Goody won Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes.
• 60 Minute Makeover - ITV1 makeover show, redecorating her mother Jackiey's home.
• The Friday Night Project July 2006, Goody appeared on 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.
• Just Jade - In 2006, LivingTV followed Jade as she out together her own perfume]].
• Jade's PA - in late 2006, Goody's latest reality based series was aired on LivingTV.
• The Late Late Show - In 2007, as a guest.
• The Podge and Rodge Show - In January 2008, as a guest.

Fitness DVDs

• Jade's All new diet by Jade Goody and Steve Kemsley (DVD - 2003)
• Jade's Challenge by Jade Goody (DVD - 2006)
• Jade's Workout/'Workout with Helen'/The "Girls" from the transgenders - by Jade Goody and Helen Adams (DVD - 2004)
• Jade(2002) by Jade Goody and Steve Kemsley (DVD - 2004)
• The Big BrotherCollection : Jade's Dance Workout/ Dance Workout with Helen Adams and Latino Dance Workout with Nadia (2002) by Jade Goody, Helen Adams, and Nadia Almada (DVD - 2005)

Jade's Shape Challenge was ridiculed when it emerged she had actually paid £4,500 for liposuction at a private clinic .

External links

• Official Site
• More information about Goody's fund-raising efforts
• Jade's P.A.
• Big Brother controversy in quotes
• The Jade Goody phenomenon