British reality TV star Jade Goody, who appeared on the show ‘Big Brother’ in 2002, is turning her death into reality television.  Goody suffers from terminal cervical cancer and is making a show about her impending demise.  Recently, she wed an ex-con named Jack Tweed, in a televised ceremony, which included bridesmaids who had shaved their heads (to mimic Goody’s hair loss from chemotherapy).  Tweed was allowed by officials to stay out past his house arrest curfew, imposed after his 18-month jail sentence for attacking a teenager with a golf club.

Television can do very good things, and it can do very bad things.  This is a very bad thing, and Goody is doing no service to herself, her two sons (ages 4 and 5) or the public.  Her decision to televise her demise turns what should be private moments between Goody, her children and her “husband” and her Maker (if she believes in God) into entertainment. 

It dehumanizes her, deprives her children of the certain knowledge that life and death and family and love are greater than fame, and injures every person who struggles to make sense of our mortality, rather than distorting it with the lens of a camera and rendering it absurd.

If you want to know why some young people have no reluctance to tape beatings and air them on YouTube, take a look at Jade Goody (and the reprehensible producers of her series).

If you want to know why we have an epidemic of character pathology—including extreme narcissism—gripping this nation, take a look at Jade Goody.

If you want to know why real empathy is in short supply, too often replaced by a thin, synthetic veneer of concern for others, no deeper than applause, take a look at Jade Goody.

Turning death into a make-believe circus of photo ops, paydays (Goody reportedly received $2.2 million for the media rights to her wedding) and fake pathos doesn’t raise cancer awareness, as Goody claims.  It buries it.  Cancer is about moments behind closed doors, about private thoughts late in the night, about quiet courage to face suffering, about tears shed over concerns for oneself and one’s children that are unspeakable, except to those we love, for real.

Goody has apparently defended her reality series because it will provide money to raise her two children.  She could have left them something else:  The certain knowledge that they mattered more than fame, that they should never sell their souls to the highest bidder, that being alive on the face of this great planet means coming to terms with death, not denying it or trivializing it by turning it into a taped, partly faked spectacle or last ditch try for fame.

Nope, there’s nothing good about this at all.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com or e-mail him at info@keithablow.com.

For years I have lived my life compromising — always trying not to upset the status quo, and I wondered how long I could go on like this. Years ago, I was respected as a medical professional for my scientific writings. Now-a-days, I am quoted as a “blogger” (Dr. Manny, a blogger said…) But I guess that’s the price you pay for being in the media.

This morning, I read a story about a lovely couple in England who wanted to adopt a child, but was denied because the potential father was “too fat.” Medical advisors for the adoption agency expressed concerns over 37-year-old Damien Hall’s health when their risk assessments concluded that his height of 6-feet, 1-inch tall, weight of 343 pounds and BMI of 42 deemed him morbidly obese, and therefore not eligible to adopt at the present time. Now I know my words don’t matter that much anymore, but when is the madness going to end?

Today I saw a beautiful child with Down syndrome in my office. He couldn’t have been more than 10 years old. So sweet and kind, I was moved by his presence. His innocence was refreshing, and he unknowingly turned my day around. I could only hope to make such a simple difference in someone else’s life. And these hopeful parents in England, were trying to do just that.

Even though I write these short blogs, I hope that someone out there begins to realize, that people can make a difference, and certain rules must be forgotten. As Dale Carnegie used to say, “The perfect way to conquer worry is to pray.”

Yesterday, Neil Entwistle greeted his conviction for murdering his 27-year-old wife Rachel and their 9-month-old daughter Lillian Rose with a subtle shaking of his head, with no tears, no yelling out in disbelief, no terror, no collapse. 

The man whose mask of amiability and success had dissolved on January 20, 2006 –  revealing a killer capable of shooting his wife and his child pointblank with a Colt .22 –  was wearing the mask again.  He could have reacted the very same way to news that the dry cleaner didn’t have his shirts ready or that the Lakers had lost the NBA finals.  

Entwistle has had a long experience wearing what the great psychologist Hervey Cleckley called “the mask of sanity.”  He impressed teachers in his working class neighborhood in England, was one of the few to go on to college, landed a job as a computer programmer, won the love of a pretty woman, maintained friendships for decades and impressed neighbors with his intelligence and seeming success here in America.

When reality didn’t sustain his desire to be seen as smart and affluent, he tried to reinforce the mask with a kind of psychological Crazy Glue.  He lied about making a small fortune in Internet businesses that were really shams offering others the false promise of easy money and better sex (two things, it turns out, he dreamed about having himself).  He lied to friends, even after the murders, about owning the home he rented in Hopkinton, Mass.  He pretended to be happily married and satisfied with his family life when he was really addicted to porn and on the prowl for sex with strangers through AdultFriendFinder.com.

But like every web of lies, Entwistle’s could not be sustained.  The truth always wins.  His real limitations—interpersonally or emotionally or creatively or intellectually—translated into being unemployed, his shady businesses unsuccessful, and his financial situation perilous to the point of bankruptcy.  People weren’t “buying” Neil Entwistle.  He was about to be revealed as a failure.  Perhaps his wife had already learned that he was a fraud.  And that much reality he could not bear.  That made him want to clear the stage of the actors he had cast in leading roles in his fake life, to hit the “reset” button on the psychological cat-and-mouse game he was playing. 

Because the subsoil of Entwistle’s psyche is likely nothing more than chaos, a black hole of self-hatred and seemingly unanswerable questions (though they always are, with the right help) about whether he has any worth at all and any level of manhood to speak of, never mind the raw, sexual kind that he kept watching graphically play itself out on the Internet.

Men like Entwistle — the Scott Petersons of this world — feel like stripping their masks away is tantamount to killing them, because they believe those thin, synthetic disguises are all that keep them from dissolving into nothingness and feeling the full weight of unspeakable emotional turmoil, with roots that always reach deep into their pasts.

Neil Entwistle will be jailed for life.  But, as he showed yesterday in a Massachusetts courtroom where genuine sorrow and love resided in the hearts of Rachel Entwistle’s family, he won’t even be present in the cell.  His real self is but a distant echo in his mind and soul, very nearly as lifeless as his victims.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com.

A 30-year-old woman was at a friend’s costume party when she unexpectedly gave birth.

Normally, that might not seem so unusual – except Ally Ashwell had no idea she was pregnant; it is being reported by BBC News.

Ashwell, of Newcastle, England, was bar hopping with friends – in a bumblebee costume – when she began to feel sick, according to the BBC News.

A mother has defended feeding her 18-month-old daughter a diet of French fries – even though the child weighs as much as a four-year-old.

Angela Boswell, 33, from Manchester, England, insisted Courtney, who weighs 30 pounds, will grow up to be healthy.

The youngster occasionally extends her diet to take in chocolate, crisps, cereal and Coca-Cola – but steers clear of her greens.

A mother who decided to abort her son because he may have inherited a life-threatening kidney condition is overjoyed that he survived the procedure.

Jodie Percival of Nottinghamshire, England, said she and her fiancee made the decision to abort baby Finley when she was eight weeks pregnant.

Percival’s first son Thane died of multicystic dysplastic kidneys — which causes cysts to grow on the kidneys of an unborn baby — and her second child Lewis was born with serious kidney damage and currently has just one kidney, the Daily Mail reported.