Sir Michael Parkinson has launched an extraordinary attack on Jade Goody, calling her ‘ignorant and puerile’.
Just days after the reality show star’s funeral, for which thousands of well-wishers lined the streets, Parky, 74, has spoken out to say she represented ‘all that is paltry and wretched about Britain today’.
Writing in the Radio Times, he said Goody, 27, who died of cancer, should not have a ‘martyr’ status and was instead a poor role model who was exploited by the media.
‘Jade Goody has her own place in the history of television and, while it’s significant, it’s nothing to be proud of,’ the veteran TV host said.
‘Her death is as sad as the death of any young person, but it’s not the passing of a martyr or a saint, or, God help us, Princess Di.
‘When we clear the media smokescreen, what we’re left with is a woman who came to represent all that’s paltry and wretched about Britain today.
‘She was brought up on a sink estate, as a child came to know both drugs and crime, was barely educated, ignorant and puerile.’
His words are bound to come under fire from Goody’s legions of fans, who dubbed her the ‘Essex princess’.
Goody died last month after losing her very public battle with cervical cancer. Her funeral at the weekend saw thousands take to the streets to pay their respects.
The 27-year-old had first come into the public eye in 2002 on Big Brother and went on to make millions before she was struck down by the disease.
She made the decision to live out her final days in the full glare of the media to raise as much money for her two young sons and possible.
Although her very public death was derided by some, it was also credited with prompting a huge rise in the number of women going for cervical smears.
Max Clifford, Goody’s publicist, said today that he was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by Sir Michael’s comments.
‘What Michael forgets to mention is that Jade already has saved, and will save in the future, countless lives of young women through her public battle with cervical cancer,’ he said.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Goody’s husband, Jack Tweed, has expressed his wish to be buried next to her when he dies.
Goody’s family bought a double plot so he can one day join her.
Tweed, who is currently on bail awaiting sentencing for assault, married Jade in February to fulfil one of his girlfriend’s dying wishes.
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For Gods sake! Yes, it’s sad that Jade died but it’s no sadder than any other person dying of cancer or dying at all for that matter. Jade has done good by raising awareness of cervical cancer and has probably saved many lives BUT that is all she has done. The way the public and media have reacted to her illness has been way OTT, maybe people forget that before she got cancer she was widely thought of as a racist, bullying bitch and was one point hated more than Bin Laden, not many people liked her at all. It’s amazing what a terminal illness can do. In my opinion, Parkinson’s comment’s were not an attack on Jade Goody, they were FACT! If people see them as some kind of attack then that says a lot about Jade herself as what he says was what Jade was.
Lady Vesuvius: Explosive Content! 