Controversial British reality TV star Jade Goody has died after a battle with cervical cancer.
Her agent Max Clifford confirmed the 27-year-old mother of two had died in her sleep yesterday - Mother's Day in Britain - at her home in Upshire, Essex.
Mr Clifford said Goody's mother Jackiey Budden had telephoned him shortly after 3am (2pm AEDT) to tell him: "My beautiful girl has gone.''
"It's just very sad,'' Clifford told Sky News.
"We got very close and I've got a lot of respect and admiration for the girl. She was a 27-year-old girl facing up to cervical cancer.''
Goody's distraught mother appeared briefly outside Goody's home with family friend Kevin Adams to tell reporters her daughter had died.
"Jade died today and family and friends would like this privacy, at last, for this morning. Thank you,'' Ms Budden, who was still dressed in long, striped pyjama bottoms, said.
Ms Budden, Mr Adams and Goody's husband, 21-year-old model Jack Tweed, had been at the star's side when she died.
Her two sons Freddie, four, and Bobby, five, had been staying with their father, Jeff Brazier.
A funeral is expected to be held in about 10 days.
Goody was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2008 but the disease spread to her liver, groin and bowel and she was told it was terminal in February.
She had been treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital in west London but wanted to die at home with her family.
She wanted "to spend all the time she had got left" with her husband and sons.
Goody shot to fame in 2002 during the UK Big Brother 3 series.
She gained wider publicity in the preceding months through her public battle with cancer and televised wedding to Mr Tweed.
She was paid a reported £700,000 ($1.4 million) by OK! magazine to cover the event, all of which she stipulated was to be passed on to her sons.
"She died as she lived, in the public eye,'' Her agent Mr Clifford said.
"This was her way of doing things for her children.''
Goody has reportedly organised all the details for her funeral, requesting she be buried in her £3500 ivory silk wedding dress.
Read more on Jade Goody's death at The Sun.
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