Jade Goody Dies on Mother's Day

The family of reality television star Jade Goody have asked for privacy after the 27-year old lost her seven-month battle against cervical cancer.

She died at her home in Upshire, Essex at 3:14am yesterday morning. Her mother Jackiey Budden said: “My beautiful daughter is at peace.”

Jade died exactly one month after she married Jack Tweed, 21, at a lavish ceremony at the Down Hall Country Hotel near Hatfield Heath.

She leaves behind her two sons Bobby, five, and Freddy, four, who will now live with their father and Jade’s ex-boyfriend, Jeff Brazier.

Jade’s spokesman, Max Clifford said how “ironic” it was that the star had passed away on Mother’s day. He paid tribute to her:

"I think she's going to be remembered as a young girl who has, and who will, save an awful lot of lives. She was a very, very brave girl. And she faced her death in the way she faced her whole life - full on, with a lot of courage."

After appearing on Big Brother in 2002, the former dental nurse from Bermondsey, South London, became a household name, earning millions from various magazine, television and book deals.

Her fame and fortune were brought into disarray in 2007 during a return to the celebrity version of the show when she became the subject of a race row involving Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

After much soul-searching, Jade began to rebuild her tainted career, only to be told during a stint on the Indian Big Brother that she had cancer.

Jade’s high profile death sparked much debate with people criticising her for playing out her death in the media. At the time she said:

"People will say I'm doing this for money and they're right, I am. But not to buy flash cars or big houses — it's for my sons' future if I'm not here. I don't want my kids to have the same miserable, drug-blighted, poverty-stricken childhood I did."

During her final months, Jade raised much awareness of cervical cancer with the number of smear tests going up throughout the country.