Brown: 'We should applaud tragic Jade'

UK prime minister Gordon Brown expressed his sympathy for cancer-stricken reality TV star Jade Goody today.

He wished her well and said her determination to help her family was “something that we’ve got to applaud”.

Goody, aged 27, is expected to earn close to £1m (€1.1m) from magazine rights to cover her wedding this weekend and other media deals.

She has deliberately used coverage of her illness to raise money for her sons Bobby, five, and Freddie, four, before she dies.

Mr Brown voiced his sorrow at her plight during his monthly news conference at Downing Street today.

He said: “It’s very sad and indeed tragic that someone so young has got this deadly disease of cancer and it’s very sad indeed that the treatment that has been given has not been successful.

“I think everyone has their own ways of dealing with these problems and her determination to help her family is something that we’ve got to applaud.

“I wish her well and I wish her family well and I think the whole country will be worried and anxious about her health.”

Exclusive deals to cover Goody’s wedding to her boyfriend Jack Tweed on Sunday have been agreed with Living TV and OK! magazine, her publicist Max Clifford said today.

Mr Clifford said the ceremony would probably be shown on Living TV in mid-March as the last in Goody’s ongoing series about her illness for the channel.

The film of the wedding will be produced by her friend Kate Jackson, who is also one of the bridesmaids.

Mr Clifford said: “They (Living TV) have an ongoing relationship with Jade but then of course because of what’s happened to her, that has become much more sensitive and complicated.

“What I suggested is they film the wedding, and then that’s it. There won’t be more episodes of the series they have been filming.”

After that Goody has no further media commitments, although discussions are under way for her to do a one-off interview with Piers Morgan for ITV.

Mr Clifford said: “She’s not obliged or contracted to do anything at all. If she wants to do something, she will – if she doesn’t, she won’t.”

He added: “There will be no filming of Jade dying. It has not even been thought about, nor will it be.”

Trainee football agent Tweed, 21, said a “big white wedding” was all Goody had ever hoped for, and the joy of their engagement helped relieve her suffering for a while.

Speaking about the moment he popped the question, Tweed told OK!: “She seemed really happy. For a moment we forgot about all her pain.

“After what the doctors told us last week we both realised we wanted to get married right away.”

Mr Clifford said Goody was “up and down” but praised her courage in her battle against the illness.

He said: “Obviously, sometimes she gets very emotional. She’s seeing as much as she can of the boys, and she’s getting an awful lot of support from Jack and the boys.

“She has been extremely brave and very, very positive about organising her affairs.”