Jade Goody would have been the first person to admit that she had no talent, her friend and publicist Max Clifford has said.

Mr Clifford also said he did not profit from Goody's death and paid some of the cancer-stricken star's medical bills.

He told students at the London College of Communication that in the last 10 years in particular people have increasingly become famous who have no talent at all.

Talented? Jade Goody

He said: "Jade had no talent. She would be the first to tell you she had no talent. She was just herself."

Mr Clifford described fame as a drug that could be just as deadly as cocaine and alcohol. He said that when he was a child growing up, everyone who was famous had talent but in 2009 you do not need any talent to be famous and successful.

Mr Clifford was asked if profiting from Goody's death made him feel guilty.

He said: "I did not profit from Jade Goody's death. I did pay her medical bills when the NHS let her down.

"When she came to me a year ago, she did not have any money at all. I was starting to rebuild her career... I paid for her to see my doctor.

"As to profiting from her, I did make a lot of money for her children, from which I did not take a penny... do I feel guilty about that? Not at all, I'm very proud actually."

Mr Clifford was asked if Goody's career would have been finished anyway if she had not been diagnosed as terminally ill.

But he said: "She was coming back and then we found out about the cervical cancer."

He said that when Goody died, the news was covered worldwide by every major broadcaster, "which she would have absolutely loved".

Mr Clifford also said he had a lot of time for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, adding: "But he's got no chance because he can't handle the media... it's never going to work, he hasn't got it in him to do what is necessary to be a star.
"You've got to be a star now."

Mr Clifford said he looked after a major Premier League football star who was secretly bisexual.

"If that came out, he's finished," Mr Clifford said.