Britain's Jade Goody, 27, provocative TV star

LONDON - Jade Goody, 27, a dental assistant whose whirlwind journey from poverty to reality-TV star to tragedy became a national soap opera in Britain, died of cervical cancer yesterday.

Miss Goody gained fame at 21, when she joined the television show Big Brother, in which contestants live together for weeks and are constantly filmed. Loud and brash, she became a highly divisive star, initially mocked as an ignorant slob, then celebrated by a hungry tabloid press as a forthright everywoman.

The pattern of praise and condemnation followed Miss Goody the rest of her life. She became a national touchstone who sparked debate about race, class, and celebrity.

During filming of a celebrity version of Big Brother last summer, Goody received her cancer diagnosis by telephone from a doctor in Britain. The camera captured the deeply personal moment, which was shown repeatedly on TV. The tabloid press chronicled her illness in detail, to the unease of many. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy in the public eye, filming part of the experience for television.

Bald and frail, Miss Goody married Jack Tweed last month. She reportedly sold the photos for more than $1 million and defended being paid for interviews and photo shoots.

"People will say I'm doing this for money, and they're right. I am. But not to buy flash cars or big houses. It's for my sons' future if I'm not here," said Miss Goody, mother of two young boys by an ex-boyfriend. "I don't want my kids to have the same miserable, drug-blighted, poverty-stricken childhood I did."

Miss Goody's publicist said last month that the cancer had spread to her liver, bowel, and groin.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday that Miss Goody had used her fame to help her sons and many women she did not know.

"She was a courageous woman both in life and death, and the whole country have admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children," Brown said.

Besides Tweed and her sons, Bobby and Freddie, she is survived by her mother, Jackiey Budden.