June 5, 1981
Jade Goody is born. She grew up on a council estate in Bermondsey, south-east London. She had a difficult childhood, frequently missing school to support her disabled mother Jackiey Budden, who lost the use of her left arm and an eye in a motorbike accident. Her drug addicted father Andrew left home when she was two years old. He died of a drug overdose aged 42 in 2005.
July 2002
Goody is propelled to fame after finishing fourth on Big Brother. During the show she is pilloried for appearing naked and asking questions such as "Is East Anglia abroad?"
August 2002
She signs a series of lucrative television, newspaper and magazine deals and makes the first of several keep-fit DVDs, cementing the former dental nurse's celebrity status.
June 2003
Goody's first son Bobby is born. She has a second child the following year with the father, Jeff Brazier, but the couple spilt up after a stormy relationship.
May 2006
Her stock continues to rise with the publication of her autobiography and a slew of appearances on reality TV shows. She also launches a top selling perfume called "Shh..."
January 2007
Goody makes a high-profile return to the Big Brother house with her mother and new boyfriend Jack Tweed. The move becomes a PR disaster after she is accused of racism towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty – in one incident referring to Shetty as "Shilpa Poppadom". The show attracts 45,000 complaints and Goody is forced to apologise amid fears the race row had caused irreparable damage to her career.
August 2008
A carefully managed comeback is interrupted after Goody undergoes tests in an Essex hospital. She is told the results a few weeks later in the diary room of the Bigg Boss house – India's equivalent to Celebrity Big Brother. She breaks down in tears as she is diagnosed with cervical cancer and returns to the UK for treatment.
3 February 2009
By now bald due to chemotherapy, Goody is told her cancer has spread to her liver, bowel and groin. She undergoes emergency surgery to remove a "golf-ball sized" tumour. Doctors later say she has months to live but Goody pledges to continue to give interviews despite her failing health.
19 February 2009
A Living TV documentary on Goody's battle with cancer, entitled Jade, draws a record audience of 709,000 and a 3.3% multichannel share, according to unofficial overnight figures.
22 February 2009
Goody marries Tweed, who is subject to a curfew after being sentenced for attacking a 16-year-old with a golf club, and is paid an estimated £1m for rights to her wedding. She says the money will safeguard her children's futures.
7 March 2009
Goody and her sons are christened in a 20-minute service at the Royal Marsden hospital in London.
8 March 2009
Goody is left "very shaken up" after a woman carrying a large bag and a hammer is found in her room at the Royal Marsden. The woman is arrested but later released without charge.
11 March 2009
Goody returns to her home in Upshire, Essex. "It's where she wants to be," says Max Clifford, her publicist. "She wants to spend all the time she has got left with Jack and the boys."
22 March 2009
Jade Goody dies of cancer in her sleep at 3.14am. Goody's mother Jackiey Budden said: "My beautiful daughter is at peace."
