British reality TV star Jade Goody died after a short battle with cervical cancer.
The controversial 27-year-old mother of two succumbed to her illness at her home in Essex, England with her mother Jackiey Budden and husband Jack Tweed at her side.
“My beautiful daughter is at peace,” says Budden in a statement.
Goody’s very public death was the last step in a very public life. She rose to notoriety on the reality show Big Brother and became reviled for aiming ethnic slurs at Indian costar Shilpa Shetty.
Goody apologized but brushed off the remarks, saying she hadn’t meant them as they sounded and were a usual course of conversation during her rough upbringing.
While filming Celebrity Big Brother during the summer of 2008, Goody received the news that she had cervical cancer — on camera.
She fought with treatments, but was told in February that the disease had spread, and there was no more hope.
Goody quickly sprang into action, arranging the filming of a short reality series of her final days in order to earn money for her three sons to live on after her death.
She also married boyfriend Jack Tweedy, had herself and her sons baptized.
Despite her controversial life, in death Goody can claim a major accomplishment: raising public awareness of cervical cancer.
“I think she’s going to be remembered as a young girl who has, and who will, save an awful lot of lives,” says publicist Max Clifford.
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