Jade Goody's Death Bed - A Showbiz Extravaganza!

Before I launch into a tirade about the modern cult of celebrity, I must, of course, state that no matter what your opinion of Jade Goody is, the fact that a 27 year old woman is dying from cancer is no laughing matter. So with that out the way....

Celebrities getting cancer is of course no new thing, Patrick Swayze is currently battling the disease whilst Kylie Minogue had a well publicised battle with breast cancer a couple of years ago. The thing that's different in these cases is that these battles, by and large, have been private affairs: Kylie allowing a documentary crew to film her first tour after being given the all clear and Swayze giving the odd interview on television. But this is the first case, I suppose, of a reality TV star contracting cancer, and not just as any reality TV star; Jade Goody, perhaps the most succesful of them all. (Bigger than Jeremy Spake? Almost certainly.) As a result, what we have now is a very, VERY public battle with cancer, which, unfortunately Jade appears to have lost.

Not a day goes by just now where we're not kept informed about the reality stars condition, either via interviews in the tabloid press, statements from her publicist and resident anti-Christ Max Clifford or the documentary show currently airing on Living TV. On the one hand this has all served to raise awareness of the importance of getting a cervical smear test to catch Cervical Cancer sooner rather than later, which is no bad thing. On the other hand however, it has felt like a rather bizarre reality show in itself essentially sitting back and watching as a woman dies. Her diagnosis was relayed to her in the Indian Big Brother house, her treatment aired on Living Tv, I can't help but wonder where they're going to draw the line? Televised death bed confession?

Goody herself has said that it's all about earning enough money to secure the future of her sons, and that, with her reality show background this is the only way she knows. All well and good but there is a fine line between securing your childrens future and losing whatever dignity you have left. Fair enough, she has agreed to speak to the press etc, but there's no mistaking that the constant stream of photographs of her undergoing treatment, or shopping for a wedding dress in a wheelchair are invasive and uncomfortable. I just hope there's a moment of sanity before, in the last few days OK Magazine invite us to be shown around her hospice room. I can certainly imagine her tragic wedding to boyfriend Jack will be covered. It's all very sad, but for a woman who has had her dignity chipped away from her progressively since her first appearance on Big Brother (The stomach turning striptease right through to the race row that erupted two years ago.) to allow the general public to follow her last days on Earth so closely is something I'm not entirely comfortable with and it worries me what the next stage of this obsession with celebrity culture will be.