British reality star Jade Goody has shown the country her personality through reality shows, now she is choosing to die just as openly. Twenty seven year old Goody appeared on the British version of “Big Brother” in 2002. She became well known, but not always for good reasons. The press hounded her for her lack of knowledge of British geography and criticized her for running around the Big Brother house naked and drunk. However, she became popular with the public.
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She went on to star in her own reality show as well as other shows such as “Wife Swap,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” and “Astounding Celebrities.” She wrote her autobiography in 2006 then released an updated autobiography in 2008. Goody even released her own fragrance “Shh…Jade Goody.” She wrote a weekly column for Now magazine and appeared as the Wicked Queen in Snow White at the Theatre Royal in London. Jade released five workout DVDs. She returned to her reality roots when she appeared on “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2007 with her mother and boyfriend in tow. No matter where Brits turned, Jade Goody was there.
After being accused in “Celebrity Big Brother” of being racist towards Indian actress Shilpa Shetty, Goody agreed to appear in the Indian version of Big Brother called “Big Boss.” However, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and was forced to pull out.
In February 2009, Goody was told her cancer was terminal and doctors at Royal Marsden Hospital reportedly told her she had only weeks to live. She married her boyfriend Jack Tweed last week, but Ok! (who paid 700,000 pounds for the exclusive story) say she was so weak that she was barely able to walk down the aisle.
Goody told New of the World that “I’ve lived in front of the cameras. And maybe I’ll die in front of them.” While her publicist has confirmed that her actual death will not be filmed, Goody is planning a very public death. She has plans to record a televised interview with Piers Morgan. The Telegraph is reporting that both Oprah and Larry King want to interview Goody, but her health has deteriorated so that it is unclear whether she will be able to do that or not.
Why has Goody chosen to die so publicly? I would guess that even with her illness, she loves the attention. But, she is also selling her story to try to raise money to help her two young sons.
What do you think about this? Some are hailing her as a hero for being so open about her death, while some feel it is in bad taste and an example of The Truman Show come true.
And in case you are wondering, there has been at least one reality star that I know of that died while the show was filming. “American Casino” featured the employees of the Green Valley Ranch Casino in Henderson, NV. The show only aired for a season or two in 2005, but in the middle of it, executive John Tata, who last seen on the show was leaving for vacation, died of an accidental overdose of painkillers and alcohol. The next episode showed the other employees dealing with Tata’s death.