I’ve been a Big Brother fan ever since the first season in the UK and the USA. Recently a former contestant from the UK version season 3 has died. She died of cervical cancer at the age of 27 on March 22, 2009. Jade Goody was the most controversial and the most popular of the regular contestants. She became a millionaire from magazine articles, other reality shows, her own perfume and other business ventures. The reason I am bothering posting about her is how she died and the reaction from people in the UK and other places.
Back in 2002 she entered the Big Brother house and made a name for herself. She was made fun of due to her stupid comments and weight in the tabloids. I thought she wasn’t very intelligent but she had a funny personality. I found her and Kate to be my favorites for different reasons. She did have a temper but it didn’t get much attention until after the show. I next saw her on another reality show called Back to Reality where her bully side really came out. She bullied people in that show and I really started to hate her. The next time I saw her I really hated her. She entered the celebrity version of Big Brother in 2007 where she bullied an actress from India named, Shilpa Shetty. The backlash from the UK and Indian public was strong and harsh.
After the show she tried to make amends and apologized for her actions. Shilpa forgave her and they actually became friends. I always found Jade an interesting person for being so strong with all the hatred against her. She became successful with all the publicity. I still disliked her but interested to see what she would do next. I was surprised when I found out she entered the Big Brother in India. Shilpa Shetty was the host of the show and their reunion was interesting. It shows how two people can forgive and leave the hatred behind them. During the show she was told she had cervical cancer and later found out it was terminal. She went through operations and treatment but the cancer spread too fast and she had months to live.
The most important thing she did was getting women to be aware of this cancer at younger ages so they could go for a screening. She stayed in the public view to make people aware of this cancer. She also wanted money for her 2 children after her death. All the publicity got the government health ministers to rethink the practice of not offering screening for young women until age of 25. This also got lot of women to go in for a screening which they might have not done before. If this publicity saved 1 woman it’s a great thing.
