
Friday night, immediately after her eviction from the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house, Jade Goody quickly went into damage control mode and admitted she had been wrong in treating Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in such a way.
The controversy began a week or so ago, when the cameras in the house caught Goody (a rather popular reality show star in the UK) hurling insults at Shilpa, most of which were based on the fact that she was Indian. The bullying continued for a couple of days more, which prompted more than 40,000 viewers to call in Britain's biggest media watchdog Ofcom and file written complaints against her and other two girls (who, in their turn, took a more passive role in the conflict).
As Goody left the house on Friday, after being voted off the show by more than 82 percent of the viewers, the scandal seemed to die down. She was immediately shown the footage that clearly presented her as racist and she admitted to having treated Shilpa wrong. She said she felt like 's**t', the lowest person on earth, the most 'disgusting' and despicable woman that ever lived for saying those things to the actress.
Today, one of her publicists says that Goody is actually feeling so 'low' that she needs medical treatment to get over the trauma and that she has already been put on a suicidal watch. 'Jade is completely distraught and is receiving medical attention for shock and depression. She has publicly apologized to Shilpa and to the country on national television. Jade has had the courage to say sorry, to face her critics and to try to make amends. That's a lot more than most would do, but certain factions in the media will not be happy without blood. What sort of message does that send out? Aren't they doing to Jade what Jade is accused of doing to Shilpa?', the statement added.
Demonstrating a complete lack of synchronizations in what regards what should the media be told or not, another of Goody's publicists (yes, she has more than one, because she was also a business woman, in addition to a television star) issued a totally different statement than the first one, only a couple of hours apart. 'Jade is quite clearly upset, as I think anyone can see from the television appearances she has done over the last few days, but I wouldn't say she was suicidal or that she would ever contemplate suicide. Jades lives for her children and it's not something that would ever enter her mind.', the second publicist said about Goody's trauma and the way she's been dealing with it.
Meanwhile, one psychologist and a media analyst say Goody's attitude is just a subtle manipulation of the public opinion. Just like in Kate Moss' case (when she was caught on tape allegedly snorting cocaine), there will be a momentary backlash and then her fame will rise to new (and yet unknown) heights. 'Afterwards, their infamy becomes attractive', consultant clinical psychologist Ron Bracey said. So, expect more tearful apologies from Goody!