A kind of Princess D

[panik]

...From the wrong side of the tracks. Is how Stephen Fry just described Jade Goody on Twitter and I think that's a wonderful comparison.

She might not have been everyone's cup of tea but the more I read and the more I learned about her (especially around the time of Shilpagate) the more I liked her. Stephen liked her too; 'Poor, dear Jade. She was a fellow guest  on Wossy a year or so back & I warmed to her immensely. All impulsive spirit & smiles. What a life.'

My regard for her lately has soared. I have no patience at all with those who whine; 'eeahh, she's got no shame she should die with dignity' and etc. etc. ad inf. She's died as she lived, in the glare of the media spotlight. She chose to have it that way, her decision - and in doing so, she's not only raised a great deal of money for her very young children's future she has massively raised awareness of cervical cancer.

As her agent said on the beeb this morning; it's pure snobbery. It's perfectly OK for people to document their impending deaths through beautiful lyrical books or prize-winning documentaries, but do it in the tabloids and you're just wrong - Well, millions more people will be aware of this hideous cancer because of Jade Goody and I for one salute her for it.

Jade died last night.

Comments

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Amen. I got into a row with somebody last week who said she'd brought it on herself, and therefore should shut up and die quietly. Grrrrr. Where do people get off being so judgemental?

::obviously need more coffee this morning::

[justmej.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard she has passed away. So sad! She was so young.

Well said.

[epistrophia.livejournal.com]

I didn't have very much interest in watching her on telly or reading about her exploits, but as far as I can tell she never changed, despite her celebrity. And I think that's to be admired, really.

If the awareness she created of cervical cancer means just one woman is diagnosed early enough to be saved, then damn right she deserves to be saluted.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Actually I didn't like middle-class bods like John Diamond and Ruth Picardie making endless columns and books out of their cancer either, and they had less financial cause. I react to look-at-me-I'm-dying copy very badly; it feels like emotional blackmail and I do prefer the "British reserve" attitude which caused my father, when the doctor during his last illness asked him to estimate the pain he was in on an ascending scale of 1 to 10, to reply "about 4". The doctor looked at me and I said "make that 8 at least".

I find it very difficult to believe many people were unaware there was such a thing as cervical cancer until it was mentioned in connection with this. It isn't as if people don't mention cancer as they used not to; we seem to hear of it all the time and I'm continually getting and ignoring invites to go for mammograms (too bloody painful by half) and smears. Are people really going to be aware it exists when they weren't before - in that case, which planet have they been on?