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As Jade Goody's life was coming to an end, she had just one thing on her mind - her young sons. The Big Brother star, 27, worked tirelessly, selling interviews and pictures before her death, in a bid to make as much money as possible to leave for her boys, Bobby and Freddy. It's thought she made up to £3million before she tragically died from cervical cancer 22 March 2009.

Today marks 17 years since Jade passed away. But there's no doubt she'd be proud of her two children, who were just five and four when she died. Speaking in 2014, Jeff Brazier - Bobby and Freddy's dad - said that after Jade's diagnosis, "the first thing she did was work out how much it would cost to put the boys through private education until they were 16. The answer was £260,000.

"In her last months that was what drove her on, even when she was so weak and in terrible pain. It was all that mattered to her. She so desperately wanted them to have the upbringing she had never had."

• Freddy Brazier's heartbreaking message to Jade Goody on Mother's Day

• Jeff Brazier says 'it will never be fair' Jade Goody misses son Bobby's huge career moment

Her desire to provide for her children, however, meant she was on camera right up until the end of her life. That sat uncomfortably with many of her fans, who felt she was being exploited by shamed sex offender agent Max Clifford. He was Jade's publicist during her high-profile cancer battle in 2008–2009, and managed the media coverage of her final months - including her wedding and christening.

Clifford, who died in jail in December 2017 while serving an eight-year sentence for a string of sexual offences against teenage girls as young as 15, packaged up dying Jade's last months for cash to line his own pockets - despite concern that he was hastening the end of her life.

In the Channel 4 documentary Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain, Clifford defended himself against accusations Jade was working too hard while undergoing gruelling chemotherapy to keep her cervical cancer at bay. He defended her continued public appearance in the media while dying, arguing she was in control of her own story.

On 7 March 2009, with just weeks to live, Jade decided to get christened alongside her sons. Clifford took charge. Jade was christened in a wheelchair, wearing her hospital gown with her drip still attached, and assisted by nurses during the service at the Royal Marsden hospital in west London.

The press were out in force at his behest. Clifford told them: "She finds it very hard to stay awake for more than a few minutes but she stayed awake for the 20 minutes of the service.It was a very positive atmosphere, after each of the boys were christened everyone clapped and after Jade was christened everyone clapped again."

Earlier he had said that Jade's two sons were not fully aware of what was going on."They know their mother is very ill and that is something the family will help them with," he said.

Speaking on the documentary, Jeff reflected on the event, and said he was forced to bite back his fears as Clifford controlled the narrative being printed day in, day out. "The christening was hard because we were having photographs taken of us and who wants to smile?" he said in the documentary. "Even the boys, like making them pose. But for Jade it was like, 'they're going to get X amount for this'. So that was like, playing along here. Doesn't feel right. We're playing along."

He added: "She was happy to be led by her agent. He was given a very simple brief, which was 'make the maximum', and I guess he did that."

Speaking over footage of the media scrum outside the hospital, Jeff went on: "[Clifford] was taking something that was really personal and just making it into a circus. He did well off it. Did it add to the quality of her life? No. But again, I had to just take my back seat."

Clifford was also the shadowy figure behind the first pictures of Jade without her hair, after the chemo left her bald and in excruciating pain. "Max Clifford brokered that deal. Oh wow. It made the papers fly off the shelves," recalled one photographer working at the time.

Clifford was involved in another of the most intimate moments of Jade's life - her wedding to Jack Tweed. The couple were married on 22 February 2009 at Down Hall, with the bride wearing a gown gifted to her from Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Clifford brokered a deal with OK magazine for exclusive rights to the wedding. He addressed the crowd of media camped at the gates of the Down Hall hotel after the ceremony took place. "They are now man and wife," he said. Jade , who was taken ill the previous night amid the strain of the preparations, had been able to stand up for all but the final five minutes of the 45-minute wedding, he added.

Clifford again came under fire for making a fortune off Jade's final months under the guise he was only representing her best interests. In an appearance on This Morning with Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, Ruth pointed out: "She's been criticised in the past for living her life as a reality show and selling everything, but at the moment she says she doesn't care what people think." Max interrupted to say: "That's what she is. She said, I've loved being a reality star, I'm doing what comes naturally to me."

When Jade passed away, she left a reported estate of £3 million, intended for a trust fund for her two sons, Bobby and Freddy, with with £260,000 specifically earmarked for private school fees.

But in 2020, Jade's husband Jack claimed the money had "vanished" and admitted that as a named beneficiary, he should have paid closer attention. "I don't want to accuse anyone because I don't know the full story but something doesn't seem right. Something doesn't add up," he told The Sun.

"I probably should have been more involved with the money situation, seeing where it all went and making sure the kids got it and it didn't get wasted by anyone. But it didn't feel right for me to get involved in that at the time."

It contradicted claims made by Jade's mum Jackiey in 2019, who said there was still plenty of cash left in the pot. "There is money for the boys in a trust. Bobby's private education is still paid for by Jade's money," she explained. "Freddy goes to a state school and loves it – the money would be there if he was to go to private school. There was enough to provide for the boys. I think they'll get it when they're 18 or 21."

Jackiey received £10,000 in the will, while Jack received nothing but her £14,000 six-year-old Volkswagen, silencing claims he'd been using her for cash. "The wishes of my children should be regarded as paramount," Jade stressed in the will, making it clear the children were the priority.

However, Jack later claimed that behind the scenes she'd tried to buy him a flat and split all the cash they earned together - including the £1million OK! magazine paid for their wedding - right down the middle. But instead of holding onto it, Jack says he added it to the trust for the boys.

Jade died in her sleep at her home in Upshire, Essex, in the early hours of 22 March 2009, at the age of 27. Her mother announced the emotional news, simply stating: "My beautiful daughter is at peace".

She spent her final hours being comforted in the privacy of her home by mum Jackiey. Jade and Jeff had co-written a "script" to help their sons understand, which she delivered in private at London's Royal Marsden Hospital.

In it, said explained that she would become a star in the sky, which the boys would always be able to see. "She didn't want to tell them, but she knew she had to do it because she wanted them to know the truth," he says. "The thought of that always reduces me to tears. Our poor boys, Poor Jade."

With the end growing close, her husband Jack slept on the floor by her bed as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Recalling her final days, he said Jade would sometimes wake up and think she was nursing a baby and call her mum Jackiey in.

Jack said: "She'd tell me to be quiet so I didn't wake the baby. I used to go along with it and pretend to take the baby and call Jackiey in and pretend to give the baby to her. "I'd then ask Jade whether she was OK and she'd say: 'Yes that's fine, now I can sleep.'"

In her final days, Jade barely had the strength to stay awake but her devotion to her son's was still strong. Just 48 hours before she passed away, as Jade was drifting in and out of consciousness, she heard her son Bobby, then five, crying in his sleep.

With an incredible strength of will, and against the advice of her doctors, Jade managed to haul herself out of bed to go to her son. She bravely put Bobby on her back and climbed the stairs with him, with close friend Kevin Adams telling The Sun: "She wasn't eating and the doctor said her health was deteriorating rapidly.

"But that night Jade got up, walked upstairs and pulled [Bobby] up onto her back and brought him to her hospital bed. The next day I told the doctor what had happened and she said, 'no Jade doesn't have the strength to do that because everything in her body is failing'.

"I told her that I saw it with my own eyes. She was able to do it because those kids meant everything to her. That memory will live with me forever, it is so special to me."