PM praises dying Jade Goody's £1m wedding deals 'to help her family'

JADE Goody left hospital yesterday to prepare for her wedding, which is expected to earn her close to £1 million following a frenzied bidding war.

The cancer-stricken reality TV star has finalised deals with OK! magazine and Living TV ahead of her marriage to her boyfriend Jack Tweed on Sunday, her publicist Max Clifford said yesterday.

It is understood that Goody will earn about 700,000 from OK! – which has also secured the rights to pictures of her children's christening – and an estimated 100,000 from a Living TV contract as well as other tabloid deals.

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Yesterday, she looked pale and unsteady as she was helped from a wheelchair into a waiting ambulance at London's Royal Marsden Hospital.

Her decision to have cameras film her daily battle with cancer created a storm of protest. And her recent suggestion that she may allow the cameras to capture the moment of her death was, for many, pushing boundaries too far.

Discussions are under way for her to do a one-off interview with Piers Morgan for ITV, but her publicist confirmed there will be no filming of her dying.

Last night even Prime Minister Gordon Brown became embroiled in the debate, defending her actions. He expressed his sympathy for Goody, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, and said people should "applaud her determination to help her family" by selling the media rights to her wedding.

Mr Brown said: "It's very sad and tragic that such a young woman has this cancer.

"Her determination to help her family is something that we have got to applaud and I wish her family well."

Goody, 27, was told by doctors last week that her cervical cancer is terminal and she has just months to live. In a controversial move, she has deliberately used media coverage of her illness to raise money for her children, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four, before she dies. It was confirmed yesterday that Goody's boyfriend would not receive any money from the deal and has agreed the entire amount should be passed on to her children.

The wedding, scheduled to take place at Down Hall, a country house hotel in Essex, is expected to be shown on Living TV, probably in mid-March, as the last in the former Big Brother star's ongoing series about her illness for the channel.

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Andrew Jones, a lecturer in journalism at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, described Goody as a "creation of the British media" who had allowed herself to be exploited.

He said broadcasting in the UK was undergoing a "crisis of confidence" in knowing what was acceptable television.

"I think there is something inherently distasteful about following someone's final hours… but this has been done with her consent.

"There's an insatiable interest in this woman's life… and there will always be an audience to follow her to her last breath.

"The problem is we have a real struggle in knowing when enough is enough."

Final interview may be with Piers Morgan

JADE Goody's final television interview is expected to be with the former newspaper editor Piers Morgan, it emerged yesterday.

Discussions are under way for the celebrity to do a one-off interview with Morgan, which is expected to be screened on ITV.

The publicist Max Clifford, who represents Goody, said there was the potential for her to do one more interview. "It's something Piers might do," he added. "That's something that is being discussed. She likes Piers, and she has done stuff with him in the past."

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The interview is expected to take place in the next few weeks.

Morgan recently revealed he was "desperately sad" after learning of her illness, adding that he would do whatever he could to support the star's sons, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four.

He said: "To see her achieve so much… to see it all now disappearing fast in this tragic way is desperate.

"What can you say? All you can do is support her. She wants to raise awareness of cervical cancer and raise money for her kids' future before she dies, and I will do anything I can to help her."

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