Bishop pays tribute to Jade Goody

|PIC1|The bishop who officiated at the wedding of the late Jade Goody and her husband Jack Tweed has paid tribute to the reality TV star who died of cancer on Sunday morning.

Goody died at her home in Upshire, Essex, at 0314 on Mother’s Day, her spokesman Max Clifford confirmed today. She was 27-years-old.

Mother Jackiey Budden, husband Jack Tweed and other family members were at her side.

Reacting to news of her death, Bishop Jonathan Blake told Sky News: "Jade has become for us, so many different things, a saint from Upshire and a princess from Bermondsey, an exemplar of biblical proportions.

“[She] laughed in the face of death and given us a completely different approach to the way we deal with cancer. The wonder of Jade was that she was raw, honest and genius deep within.

“Not a superficial person as so much of life is now. She spoke what she thought sometimes to the shock and outrage of others."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown also paid tribute to Goody.

"I was deeply saddened to hear the news of Jade Goody's death. 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,” he said.

“She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer which will benefit thousands of women across the UK.

“Every death from cancer is a tragedy and my thoughts go out to her two sons, husband and family at this time."

Ms Budden asked that the family be left to grieve in private.

“My beautiful daughter is at peace,” she was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Goody was diagnosed with cervical cancer last August while taking part in the Indian version of Big Brother.

After receiving the news in February that her cancer had become terminal, she made it a priority to secure the future of her two sons, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four, with media interviews and by selling the rights to her wedding to Tweed last month to OK! Magazine. The wedding was also filmed for her reality TV series on Living.

Goody previously spoke of her desire to tell her sons about Jesus before she died and that she wanted them to know she would be looking down on them from Heaven.

She was christened with her sons in a short ceremony at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, where she was being treated.

Paying tribute to her this morning, Clifford described Goody as “a very, very brave girl”.

“She faced her death in the way she faced her whole life – full on, with a lot of courage,” he said.