Morning:
3°c
Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Boris Johnson has soared ahead of Ken Livingstone in the race to be Mayor, an Evening Standard poll reveals
More...
Disgraced Goody's autobiography axed
25.01.07The paperback of Jade Goody's autobiography has been scrapped in the wake of the Celebrity Big Brother race row.
HarperCollins had been due to publish Jade: My Autobiography on 5 February but bosses at the publishing house have pulled the plug as a result of Goody's alleged racially motivated bullying of fellow contestant Shilpa Shetty.
The memoir of the mother of two - who first shot to fame on Big Brother in 2002 - has made almost £1million since its publication last May in hardback. The paperback was to have included a new chapter which HarperCollins had previously said was "guaranteed to illuminate Britain's favourite gobby girl even further".
But a HarperCollins spokesman said: "In light of recent events, HarperCollins has decided it wouldn't be appropriate to proceed with the paperback publication of Jade: My Autobiography as planned on 5 February. The author and agent support this decision."
The move is a setback for HarperCollins, owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. In November Murdoch cancelled plans for a book and TV interview, If I Did It, in which OJ Simpson - acquitted in 1995 of the murders of his wife and her friend Ron Goldman - was to have described how he would have killed them.
The latest financial blow for Goody, 25, comes after Boots, Debenhams and the Perfume Shop removed her fragrance Shh from the shelves in the wake of her stint in the Celebrity Big Brother house.
Since her eviction from the house on Friday, she has also been dropped as a highprofile spokeswoman of the charity Act Against Bullying and has had her windows smashed in her Harlow home.
Goody has said her treatment of Shetty was the worst mistake of her life.
Reader views (4)
Thank goodness Harper Collins have put sense before profit. Let's hope this acts as a wakeup call for other publishers. Perhaps then we can get back to seeing books worth reading on the shop shelves.
- Jean Mead, Conwy - North Wales
What a loss. Still unable to understand how some one makes a 'career' out of being a bully and a loud mouth!
- Val, London
Of course it was the worst mistake of her life. People were watching and spoke out against her and her bahaviour. Had there not have been such a backlash against her, she would not have even realised that she was behaving innapropriately as she clearly didn't think it was a mistake until faced with a crowdless eviction and the loss of the career as she knew it. Sheer ignorance.
- We, Kent
Oh woe, what a loss to the literary community. An autobiography by someone who can barely speak a sentence without swearing was not going to be my idea of potential reading material. Well done to Haper Collins for taking this brave action. I guess her next attempt at fame will be "The rise and fall of me cos of Shilpa Whatshername?"
- Millie Roy, London, UK
