Reality TV star Jade Goody dead !!!!!!

LONDON (AFP) – Reality television star Jade Goody died in her sleep early Sunday aged just 27, her publicist said, after a very public battle with cervical cancer.

Goody died at her home in Upshire, Essex, southeast England, at 3:14 am (0314 GMT) on Mother's Day, with husband Jack Tweed and mother Jackiey Budden by her side.

"I think she's going to be remembered as a young girl who has, and who will, save an awful lot of lives," her publicist Max Clifford said, referring to how her battle with cancer has raised awareness of the disease.

"She was a very, very brave girl. And she faced her death in the way she faced her whole life -- full on, with a lot of courage."

Goody, an ex-dental nurse from south London, first found fame on "Big Brother" reality television programme in 2002.

But her career was nearly ruined when she subjected Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty to racist bullying on the celebrity edition of the show in 2007, referring to her as "Shilpa Poppadom".

The two subsequently made peace, with Goody appearing on the Indian "Big Brother" -- "Bigg Boss" -- although she pulled out after receiving her cancer diagnosis.

Shetty has said she was "sad" about Goody's illness and had hoped to visit her last week while on a trip to Britain.

Goody's decision to live out her final weeks in the public eye prompted many commentators uncomfortable with the coverage to raise questions about the ethics of reality television.

But she won the hearts of many Brits -- and was responsible for a huge jump in the number of young women taking tests for cervical cancer.

Goody married Tweed -- a 21-year-old aspiring footballers' agent who was jailed last year for attacking a teenager with a golf club -- on February 22, nine days after he proposed in hospital following her terminal diagnosis.

Media rights for the lavish ceremony at a country house hotel north of London were reportedly sold for one million pounds.

Goody plus sons Bobby, five, and Freddy, four -- who she had with her ex-boyfriend, television presenter Jeff Brazier -- were christened on March 7, another event captured by a magazine.

The christening was one of her final requests and her publicist Clifford said she wanted to do it so her sons "know about Jesus and hopefully in the years ahead they'll be able to keep in touch with (her) through Jesus".

On Tuesday, her publishers also revealed she would be publishing a diary of her dying days. A percentage of the profits will go towards a cancer charity.

Goody always said she was seeking publicity not for herself, but as a way to make her sons financially secure when she was gone.

Although some commentators found the spectacle ghoulish, others lept to her defence.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown called her case a "tragedy" and the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said she wanted the last weeks of her life to teach people something.

Her case reportedly led to a 20 percent rise in the number of young women taking smear tests which can detect cervical cancer.

Robert Music, director of cervical cancer charity Jo's Trust, told British media he had "never seen anything like it".

"The Jade effect has been nothing short of phenomenal," he added. "Quite simply, Jade Goody will end up saving lives."

Goody's body was taken out of her home shortly before 8:00 am (0800 GMT) as mourners started leaving floral tributes at the gates of her home.

Speaking outside the house, her mother said: "Family and friends would like privacy at last."