AFTER AN adult life spent actively courting the media, Jade Goody, the terminally ill British reality television star, retreated behind an impenetrable barrier of security yesterday to marry her fiance at a country house hotel in Essex, near London.
The 27-year-old, who fears she may have only weeks to live after doctors diagnosed that cervical cancer had spread aggressively to other organs, married Jack Tweed at a ceremony hidden in the 110 acre grounds of the Down Hall hotel, in Hatfield Heath, all 99 bedrooms of which had been booked by the wedding party.
The TV cameras which have followed Goody since the former dental nurse gained fame with an appearance on Big Brother in 2002 were banished to the end of the long hotel drive, far out of sight of the building itself.
It was not, of course, a proper retreat into privacy, but a media deal under which Goody will make an estimated £1m (€1.12 million) selling exclusive coverage rights to the celebrity magazine OK! and a satellite television channel, money she hopes will secure the future of her two young sons.
It was left to Max Clifford, the publicity agent handling the last, frenetic months of Goody’s life, to pass on some limited news to the crowd of reporters, wellwishers and curious passers by who waited outside the hotel grounds.
He said the bride, who is on constant pain medication, had managed to stand for most of the 45-minute service, but slipped off her shoes because her feet were hurting and asked for a chair to rest during the final minutes. Ten white doves were released. “It was just a very heart-rending, happy ceremony with lots of tears and lots of smiles and lots of laughter,” Clifford said. About 200 people attended the ceremony, which was conducted by Jonathan Blake, a bishop with the independent Open Episcopal Church. “When they came out they got a standing ovation from everybody there.”
Guests included television presenter Nick Ross, the singer Antony Costa and TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. After a lavish reception said to include a performance by the Sugababes, Goody and Tweed (21), were spending their wedding night together, “courtesy of Jack Straw,” Clifford added. The justice secretary intervened last week to loosen Tweed’s post-jail curfew conditions, which dictate he must remain at his mother’s house after 7pm. Tweed wears a tag after being jailed for attacking a 16-year-old boy with a golf club.
“This is their one night together. It might be their only night together. We’re very grateful to [Straw] for that,” said Clifford. – (Guardian service)