Jade Goody thought cancer was punishment for Big Brother race row

5 August 2019

Jade Goody thought her cervical cancer was punishment for her 'Celebrity Big Brother' race row.

Jade Goody

The late reality star - who was accused of racism and bullying directed at Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty 12 years ago - passed away in 2009 aged 27, and while she later apologised, her mum Jackiey Budden has now said she was haunted by the controversy until her death.

Speaking in Channel 4's upcoming documentary series 'Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain', she said: "One night she felt really scared because, obviously, she knew she was going very soon.

"She said, 'Mum I feel like they're coming to get me. They're coming to get me. It's going all dark'. She said, 'Is that because I was so bad in 'Big Brother?' "

Jade appeared in the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house five years after her 2002 stint in the civilian version, and she became the first of the show's housemates to become a millionaire as she enjoyed success on television before the racism row.

Also in the documentary, the reality programme's original host Davina McCall paid tribute to the late star, and admitted she couldn't believe how quickly Jade suffered a fall from grace.

According to The Sun newspaper, she said in the doc: "I felt such enormous joy at Jade's popularity. Then, 'Oh my God, what happened? How can it all turn in a nanosecond? She's now become the most hated girl in Britain?' "

Since Jade's death, her ex Jeff Brazier has brought up the pair's two sons - Bobby, 15, and Freddie, 14 - and in the film he explained how she deliberately turned her final days into a "circus" to make as much money as she could for her kids' future.