When I first saw Jade Goody on Big Brother I was repulsed. She was loud, overweight and ignorant and seemed to want to bully. I thought she embodied every negative stereotype of a tough working class British girl.

I could picture her in high heels and a garish high street ensemble, fake tan and gaudy make-up, staggering home through a quiet civilised town centre in the early hours, dispensing random abuse to surprised passers-by, insulting the kebab shop owner with barked commands, finally collapsing in a drunken and dishevelled heap, before being woken by the police and encouraged on her journey home.

That was my initial opinion of Jade, the working class cliché, a person capable of anti-social and threatening behaviour, racism, hate and ignorance.

Unquestionably, through her on screen appearances, Jade gave us cutting drama, superior to anything that can be artificially produced. She frustrated us with her xenophobic behaviour. She made us chuckle with her dire geographical knowledge. She invoked sympathy as her Big Brother housemates made fun and took advantage of her. She gave us truly touching moments, when being diagnosed with terminal cancer live on Big Brother India or the web video of her wedding dance with Jack. And the grand finale, her death from cervical cancer on Mothers Day… but in this show there was no curtain call.

Jade was one of an emerging group of people, that gifted herself an opportunity to become a reality star and a celebrity, and indeed she was one of the first to make it work. When she burst on to our screens in such a vivacious way, no-one knew then, what she would become, a Greek tragedy repackaged into consumable pieces for our modern reality-TV diets.

And it is that respect she can be considered a pioneer, not unlike an oil prospector or a rail road tycoon. She saw an opportunity early, jumped on it, took huge personal risks (in the event the public shunned her) and ultimately reaped large dividends.

She managed from a under-privileged starting point, a broken family background and a drug-addict father, a second-rate education and poor social skills, to overcome adversity and forge a career in one of the most cut throat industries, becoming a master of destiny, creator of a dynasty and ultimately through her untimely death, transform her image and public perception.

Jade Goody lived life to the full, she had highs, she had lows, she was a pioneer, a star, a celebrity, a wife, a mother, a terminally ill cancer victim. She packed into her short existence on this planet what most people aspire to, and don’t achieve in a lifetime. Success, wealth, love, children and fulfilment of fullest potential.

Jade Goody is a role model. She showed us not to judge people with our pre-programmed perceptions and pre-cast-clichés. She showed how someone from a disadvantaged background could scale dizzying heights. She showed us how to love and how to savour every moment of life. In the face of death she became humble, graceful, generous-spirited and finally calm and at peace.

On our TV screens, she was born to us, brutish and ignorant but passed through this life dignified and beautiful

Jade Goody I salute you as a pioneer and as a role model and a natural born entertainer.