Michael Jackson sends love to Jade Goody

The terminally ill reality star was "exhausted" and under 24-hour security protection after being confronted by a woman with a hammer, Max Clifford said.

But he added that cancer-stricken Goody had been cheered by messages of goodwill from the Thriller singer, who recently announced plans to perform in London.

Clifford said: "Michael Jackson phoned her over the weekend but couldn't get through.

"He wanted to pop in and see her but instead sent her his love and said he was thinking about her."

Goody spent the majority of today sleeping with Jack Tweed at her bedside, he added.

Goody woke up to find the woman leaning over her clutching a hammer at London's Royal Marsden Hospital.

Police were called and arrested the 41-year-old suspect yesterday, but she was eventually released from custody with no further action.

Tweed spent several hours with Goody yesterday as she tried to rest following an emotional christening ceremony at the hospital on Saturday.

Her two sons Bobby, five, and Freddy, four, were also christened with their mother during what Mr Clifford described as a "very short and emotional service".

He said completing the ceremony and getting married to Tweed meant the 27-year-old had done all she wanted to before she died.

He said: "What she said to me was 'Everything is in place now'."

Goody, who has been told she has only weeks to live, was diagnosed with cervical cancer last August.

A charity campaigner said her struggle with the disease had highlighted the importance of lowering the cancer smear test age.

Robert Music, director of Jo's Trust, said a petition calling for the test age to be reduced from 25 to 18 would be handed to Downing Street this month.

He said: "Jade's case has highlighted the issue quite significantly both in terms of her age and the importance of being tested."

The petition, which has been signed by 15,000 people, was organised by the family of Claire Walker, who died of cervical cancer aged 23.

Bob and Lynn Walker believe their daughter, from Washington in Tyne and Wear, could have been saved by early access to a test.

The family, backed by Jo's Trust, will hand over their petition at 4pm on Wednesday March 18.

Cervical cancer screening starts at 25 in England, compared with 20 in Scotland and Wales.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women under 35 after breast cancer, but the vast majority of cases still occur in older women.

Around 3,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK and the prognosis is good if it is caught early.

Jackson appears to be a fan of Big Brother. He watches it and his brother and sister have taken part in the celebrity version of the show in the UK.

In 2007, Goody returned to the Big Brother house to take part in the celebrity show.

Among her housemates was Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine Jackson, who performed with his superstar sibling in The Jackson 5.

As he entered the house, Jermaine told host Davina McCall that Michael would be watching the show.

"Michael's in Vegas right now but he has a way of seeing everything," he said.

Big Brother was embroiled in controversy that year when it sparked an international outcry amid allegations that Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty was the victim of racist bullying at the hands of Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara.

Another Jackson family member, singer LaToya, was on TV screens in January for the latest Celebrity Big Brother series.