Forget the past and pray for Jade, urges Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty urged people to pray for terminally ill Jade Goody today as she prepared for her wedding.

The Bollywood actress said good wishes would give Goody energy.

Shetty and Goody were at the centre of the Celebrity Big Brother race row two years ago, which sparked thousands of complaints.

Viewers were outraged about the treatment of Shetty by Goody and other housemates on the Channel 4 reality TV show.

But Shetty, aged 33, spoke of her wish for everyone to forget the past and support Goody, who has been battling cancer and found out she was terminally ill last week.

In an interview broadcast today, Shetty told ITV News: “I buried the hatchet a very long time ago, not because I’d heard about her being diagnosed with cancer.

“I’d repeatedly told people my feelings and I really didn’t want to have any ill feelings against her.

“It’s really sad to know that her health is deteriorating and I really want people to forget the past and I really want them to pray and send her good wishes because that’s something that will give her energy.

“I really want all the positive things to be affecting her at this point.”

Shetty said she had been invited to Goody’s wedding but was filming in Bombay - “but if I was in London I would definitely have been there to show her my solidarity”.

The rights to Goody’s wedding at an Essex country house have been sold for around £1m (€1.1m).

The 27-year-old will have a special pouch concealed in her wedding dress to hold her painkillers when she marries on Sunday.

Her fiance, Jack Tweed, has vowed that she will go down the aisle with him, even if he has to wheel her in a hospital bed.

Brit Award winners Girls Aloud are said to be desperately keen to perform on Goody’s big day.

Speaking to GMTV, Goody’s friend and publicist, Max Clifford, said of the arrangements: “We’ll know in the next few days – everything at the moment is kind of organised chaos.

“There’s an awful lot of things to arrange ever so quickly, but I’m sure it’s going to be a day she’ll never forget.”

Wedding planning was under way at Goody’s home in Upshire, Essex, today, where she and Tweed received a visit from Bishop Jonathan Blake, of the independent London-based Open Episcopal Church.

He refused to be drawn on whether he would be conducting the wedding ceremony, but a source close to the planning said it was thought this would be the case.

Mr Blake hit the headlines last week after he was arrested for photographing his children sitting on a rooftop and has said he was considering legal action against the police.

The clergyman offers wedding services on his website, some involving the need to legally register the marriage at a register office as well and others involving a registrar also being present at a venue approved for a marriage.

A doctor also visited Goody’s home today, declining to comment as he entered the property.

It is believed the wedding reception, which was to have been held in the home, will now take place elsewhere.

Mr Clifford was asked on GMTV how Goody will cope with being in pain on her wedding day.

He said: “Well, she’s determined and anybody that knows Jade knows what a determined young lady she is.

“And of course the (Royal Marsden) hospital have given her everything to try to control the pain as best as it’s possible to.

“There’s even going to be a special pouch in her wedding dress for painkillers, so that hopefully that will help her during her big day.”

Goody left hospital yesterday and Mr Clifford said she felt weary.

Looking pale and unsteady, she was pictured being taken from hospital and into a waiting ambulance.

Mr Clifford said: “The journey itself was tiring for her. But she’s glad to be home.”

Mr Clifford said every commercial deal struck was for Goody’s sons, Bobby and Freddie, and their education.

Asked whether Goody would continue future media deals after her wedding, Mr Clifford said: “We are in discussions to do a final documentary – an interview with Piers Morgan, who she’s known for a long time – and she’s very keen to do it, providing she’s well enough to do it.

“But all this talk about filming her dying – it’s never happened and it wouldn’t happen, and personally I find it incredibly offensive.”

Mr Clifford said the thousands of letters of support for Goody had been a “huge boost”.

Yesterday UK prime minister Gordon Brown wished Goody well and said the “whole country will be worried and anxious about her health”.

Meanwhile, a documentary called Jade, which airs on Living TV tonight at 9pm, sees the cameras follow Goody as she undergoes chemotherapy treatment for her terminal cancer.