International - India & World   

Goody diagnosed with cancer

Jade Goody

LONDON: Jade Goody, the controversial reality TV star who was accused of racially abusing Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty when they appeared on Big Brother together last year, has been diagnosed with cancer, her publicist Max Clifford said here on Tuesday.

Ms. Goody, who was appearing in the Indian version of Big Brother, called Big Boss, was reported to be on her way back home.

Mr. Clifford told the BBC that she was “extremely upset and frightened and will be back as soon as they can get her on a plane.”

He said: “Jade had some tests recently, then she went off to India to appear in the Indian Big Brother. Yesterday [Monday] we got a call from her consultant to say she had cancer of the cervix and so she has to come back straight away. We put the consultant in touch with the programme maker in India and because of the circumstances was allowed to speak to her and explain the results of her tests.”

Mr. Clifford said Ms. Goody was “shocked” when told about the diagnosis.

“Obviously there were some problems — that’s why she had tests. But she had no idea that would be the diagnosis — she was shocked,” he said.

Ms. Goody, (27), a working class woman with little education and often ridiculed for her manners, shot to popularity after she appeared on Big Brother in 2002.

Even though Ms. Goody did not win the contest, she became an overnight “star” thanks to media coverage.

She wrote newspaper columns, launched a perfume and endorsed products.

Last year, she hit headlines around the world when she was accused of racism towards Ms. Shetty and forced to apologise.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

What next for Musharraf?
Russia-NATO ties sour over Georgia
Labour set to lose power
Fiji polls not on time
‘Revive Natal Indian Congress’
Militant raids in Philippines
Goody diagnosed with cancer

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu