JADE GOODY, the 27-year-old reality television star who lost her battle with cancer on Sunday, will be mourned as she lived – in front of the cameras, her publicist said yesterday.
The former dental nurse, who found fame and infamy on Big Brother, was central in planning a "Jade Goody production" to celebrate her life, her publicist Max Clifford said. Large television screens are likely to be installed outside her local church, St John the Baptist in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, southeast England, for the expected crowds.
There was speculation yesterday that one person who may miss the funeral is Goody’s widower, Jack Tweed, who may be jailed when he appears before magistrates later this week.
Tweed is due to be sentenced on Thursday for assaulting a taxi driver last May after being convicted earlier this month.
Sentencing was postponed because of Goody’s terminal illness, but the magistrates warned Tweed they were considering imprisonment.
A spokeswoman for Harlow magistrates court confirmed yesterday that the hearing was still due to go ahead.
Tweed is still on licence after being released from prison earlier this year. He was given an 18-month sentence at Chelmsford crown court last September after being convicted of assaulting a 16-year-old boy with a golf club during a row in Ongar, Essex, in December 2006.
Hundreds of wellwishers have visited Goody’s home in Upshire, Essex, leaving flowers, cards, balloons and soft toys.
Ciaran Devane, the chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said Goody’s “honesty and openness” about her cervical cancer had raised awareness of the illness and led to people discussing death and dying in a way they had not done before.
“We have also had calls from parents asking about the benefits of their 12- or 13-year-old daughter having the cervical cancer jab at school,” he said.
“They have started off being quite sceptical about the vaccine, yet Jade’s fight with cervical cancer has made them think again.” Mr Devane welcomed the opening up of the “UK’s ingrained reluctance to talk about the grim realities” of an aggressive cancer.
Publicist Clifford said Goody had originally given the job of planning the funeral to one of her bridesmaids.
“But within a minute she was saying she didn’t want that and she did want this, and how she wanted it to be.
“It will be a celebration, but of course there will be a lot of tears. It will be very much a Jade Goody production, with Jade doing her own thing her own way.”
The service would be an “open” affair, said her friend photographer Danny Hayward, with opportunities for fans to pay their respects.
– ( Guardianservice)