JAMEELA’S LOCKDOWN LIFE
The show that has got me through: I’ve just been watching I May Destroy You by Michaela Coel which is incredible – a revolutionary, funny, very upsetting, meaningful, realistic portrayal of normal women’s lives. I’ve also been rewatching all of my favourite movies, anything from When Harry Met Sally to Twister.
My scary screen time: It’s mortifying, but my screen time was down 7% this week to 11½ hours! I get like 5,000 DMS a day and read as many as I can. And I have 94 unread text messages, so I’m not talking to my own friends. I am also trying to read about what’s happening in the world all the time. I think, in a while, it will be better for my mental health if I take a break. I would say, make sure you are having face-to-face time with human beings, if you can, during Covid. And reading books or going outside. Take a break.
On being able to leave the house again: That doesn’t always appeal to me; I’m an introvert and I don’t like to exercise. I’m happy staying in with my boyfriend and our new dog.
What she’s learned about her relationship this year: I love James [Blake] even more now because of lockdown. For the last two years I’ve been on three aeroplanes a week sometimes. And, you know, travelling the world to try and make people feel better about their mental health often means that I’m not at home looking after mine, and so being able to actually be in the same city as James is wonderful. It’s been amazing just to find out we still love each other.
What work will look like for her now: My heart has gone back to hosting and I’m enjoying interviewing again and talking to fascinating people, like Reese Witherspoon, Roxane Gay, Billy Porter and ALOK. I would like to enter more into the producing space, in the documentary space. For acting to come back into my life, it would have to be an unbelievably special role, where I felt like there was a bigger purpose in it. We don’t have a lot of South Asian representation in Hollywood still, there’s like five of us. If I felt like I could further that conversation, then I would act again.