Dying Reality TV Star 'Ready to Go to Heaven' After Marrying

LONDON, Feb. 24, 2009 — -- Jade Goody, the U.K.'s most famous reality TV star, who has terminal cervical cancer, said she is "ready to go to heaven" after her wedding to Jack Tweed Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with OK! magazine, Goody said the wedding had been "the happiest day of my life." Doctors believe that she has only two weeks to live, as the cancer has already spread to her bowels, liver and groin.

Tweed, 21, proposed to Goody, 27, in front of cameras in London, and the British luxury department store Harrods gave her a designer gown by Manuel Mota, worth $5,798.

"I was very moved by Jade's plight," Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed said in a statement released to ABC News. "When I heard of her intention to get married, I wanted to give her something. So I offered her one of our beautiful wedding dresses from Harrods."

Even the Ministry of Justice offered support to the ailing celebrity when it announced that Tweed, on parole for an assault in 2006, would be allowed to stay out past his curfew and spend his wedding night with Goody. A Ministry of Justice spokesman described the couple's circumstances as "an exceptional case."

The wedding took place at the Down Hall Country House Hotel in Hatfield Heath, near where Goody grew up, and the bride was able to walk down the aisle, despite her advancing illness.

Tweed arrived for the ceremony first in a Rolls-Royce, before Goody landed in a helicopter, late.

Guests at the reception were served pink champagne, while the British pop group Sugababes and the acid jazz band Incognito performed for them.

OK! magazine paid Goody about $1 million for the rights to the ceremony, including the exclusive interview with her.

Meanwhile, the pay channel Living TV, which has been following Goody around since she received the cancer diagnosis in August, paid her $144,655 to film the wedding. The wedding will be broadcast on Living TV in two weeks.

Although some have criticized Goody for selling her life and cheapening her illness, Goody defended her decision, saying she was only doing it to secure the future of her two sons, Bobby Jack, 5, and Freddie, 4. The children are the product of her relationship with former reality TV star Jeff Brazier.

Cervical Cancer Screenings on the Rise

Goody's publicist Max Clifford brushed off the critics who question Goody's motives, saying, "There will always be people who criticize. Fortunately, the majority have been supportive and understanding. They understand that she needs to pay for her boys' education."

"Just last night," Clifford told ABC News, "Jade told me, 'Reality TV has been wonderful to me. .. .It comes naturally to me, and it gives me something to do.'"

One unexpected benefit of Goody's publicizing her illness has been a 21 percent leap in young women getting cervical cancer screenings in the U.K., according to Clifford. The figures have been backed by cervical cancer specialists.

"We have definitely seen an increase in uptake due to Jade Goody," Robert Music, director of the cervical cancer organization Jo's Trust told The Guardian newspaper. "I think that in this celebrity age, many people relate to Goody. It is almost as if she has become a part of their lives, a family member."

Some in the media have speculated that Goody might even allow her last moments to be filmed, reports firmly denied by Clifford, who said, "She definitely won't be dying on camera, despite what the media are saying."

After seven years appearing on one reality show after another, the woman, described by her own publicist as "a living 'Truman Show'," may finally have tired of living in the public eye.

Clifford said that Goody's priorities now are firmly focused on her sons, who will be in their father's custody after she dies.

In a self-penned column in the U.K.'s New! magazine, Goody wrote, "Jeff will have full custody and my mum and Jack will have access as and when they want."

She added, "Everything I have, my house and my money, is going to my sons. And just in case you were wondering, Jack won't be getting any money out of me or from the wedding. He wants everything to go to the boys."

Clifford told the U.K. TV channel GMTV that her older son, Bobby Jack, paid tribute to his mother at the wedding, describing her as "the best mum in the world."

Prime Minister Applauds Goody

For her part, Goody "just wants her boys to get a really good education and have a happy, healthy life," Clifford said

Goody's story has captured the U.K.'s imagination, with no less than British Prime Minister Gordon Brown weighing in and telling reporters last week that "her determination to help her family should be applauded."

Her final TV appearance is expected to be an interview with Piers Morgan, the former editor of the U.K. tabloid The Daily Mirror, "if she's well enough," Clifford said.

He confirmed that there have been "hundreds of requests for interviews" but, for now, the ultimate reality TV celebrity is saying no to the cameras.