'OK!' tata: Mag prints Goody tribute before her death

A Jade Goody tribute edition of celebrity magazine OK! has gone on sale — even though the dying reality television star has not yet lost her fight against cancer. The front cover of the issue carries the phrases In Loving Memory and Jade Goody 1981-2009, sentiments usually reserved for gravestones and funerals.

The weekly magazine paid £7,00,000 for exclusive coverage of Goody’s wedding to Jack Tweed earlier this month, and appears to have risked publishing the ambiguously-worded memorial edition so this Tuesday’s issue will not end up looking out of date.

The magazine appeared in newsagents as it was announced that the final months of Goody’s battle with cancer are to be detailed in a new book. Publishers HarperCollins described the cancer diary, entitled Forever in My Heart, as a “modern day parable”.

The 27-year-old reality TV star left hospital last week to spend her last days at home with her family. Her husband Jack Tweed and mother Jackiey Budden were seen at her home in Essex throughout the day.

In a statement, HarperCollins said the former Big Brother contestant had characterised the book as a “love letter” to her two young sons, Bobby and Freddy. Belinda Budge, the managing director of HarperNon-Fiction said: “This is Jade in her own words.

“It is impossible not to be moved by her heart-warming voice which comes through loud and clear on every page of this last diary. “This emotional book tells a fascinating story of our time, a story of a woman who rose to fame as a controversial reality TV star and has now won admiration in the eyes of many for the fortitude with which she is facing terminal cancer.”

Details of the book deal, which was arranged quickly over recent weeks, have not been made public, but Goody is understood to have been paid a substantial sum. A percentage of profits from the book will be donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care.

A spokeswoman for Goody said she had spent most of the day sleeping, drifting in and out of consciousness. In an interview with New! magazine, Goody said she had been delighted to see her sons after returning from hospital last week.

She said she had been lifted by an answerphone message from Michael Jackson and flowers sent by Amy Winehouse and Robbie Williams.