Prison preferable to life without Jade, says fiance

Cancer-stricken Jade Goody, from Bermondsey, is to marry her fiance Jack Tweed on Sunday, her publicist confirmed. (REX FEATURES)

Jade Goody's fiance said today that he would "rather do life in prison" than live without her.

The 27-year-old reality TV star, who has cancer and was told last week that she has just months to live, briefly left London's Royal Marsden Hospital yesterday in a wheelchair to exchange engagement rings with Jack Tweed.

Tweed, 21, said a "big white wedding" was all Goody had ever hoped for, and the joy of their engagement helped relieve her suffering for a while.

Speaking about the moment he popped the question, Tweed told OK! magazine: "She seemed really happy. For a moment we forgot about all her pain.

"After what the doctors told us last week we both realised we wanted to get married right away.

"In an ideal world we would have liked to have one ceremony abroad with close friends and family and then a big one back here for all our friends.

"That's all Jade's ever wanted - a big white wedding in a big church."

Goody's friend and publicist, Max Clifford, said the couple are preparing for a Sunday ceremony at Down Hall country house, in Hatfield Heath, Essex.

Goody told The Sun: "I am going to die in this hospital, so I don't want to get married here.

"But wherever we tie the knot, I'm determined to walk down that aisle."

She said she has "lost her balance", which doctors were not sure was a sign of her illness or just general weakness.

"But I'm hoping I will have the strength to walk on my big day. It would be so cruel to be robbed of that one last thing as well," Goody added.

Tweed is currently under nightly curfew after being released from prison following a sentence for assault, and he said leaving her bedside every day was agonising.

"I hate thinking of her going through all this by herself," he told OK!

"But I can't change that. But she knows I love her and would be there if I could."

He said the pain of being separated from Goody while he was in prison confirmed that he wanted to be with her.

"It is hard to see the one you love so much look so ill," he said, "but it still feels the same when I kiss her, I still fancy her. There's nothing different.

"If she died it would kill me. I'd rather do life in prison than live without Jade."

Goody and Tweed visited Harrods yesterday where the bride-to-be picked out a wedding dress, a gift from the store's owner, Mohamed Al Fayed.

Mr Clifford said the former Big Brother star also chose Armani suits for her two sons, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four.

Asked about her remaining in the spotlight during her illness, Mr Clifford said: "Jade has said it is the best thing for her and she is doing things the way she wants to do them.

"She will continue to give interviews providing she is medically able to.

"If she wants it stopped, it stops."

Tweed said he found it too upsetting to watch the TV show following his fiancee through her treatment, but added that Goody found it helped by taking her mind off what she was going through and stopping her feeling lonely.

Goody was diagnosed with cervical cancer last August while she was taking part in the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother.

Earlier this month doctors said the disease had spread to her liver, bowel and groin.

Surgeons at the Royal Marsden removed a golf-ball sized tumour from her bowel on February 6.

* The full interview with Jack Tweed appears in this week's edition of OK! magazine, on sale today.