Being Jameela Jamil
on silencing your inner bully and speaking out for change
it’s just gone 8am in LA when I speak to Jameela Jamil over Zoom. She joins our chat from the home she shares with her boyfriend, musician James Blake, as well as six friends from London whom she’s known since she was 19.
I ask her how she’s finding Hollywood. “I stay removed from the industry a little bit, because it still isn’t entirely pure,” says Jamil, laughing. “And I’ve got my old mates from London here, so it’s like I’ve just transported some of my favourite bits of England and home to LA.”
The former T4 and Radio 1 presenter moved to LA in 2016 to pursue a career in comedy writing, but instead ended up landing a role on award-winning show The Good Place. As well as acting, Jamil, 35, is the founder of the boundary-pushing I Weigh movement, which passionately champions diverse voices and body positivity.
A testament to her activism, she’s now the face of The Body Shop’s
Self Love Uprising campaign, which encourages people to fight for change. After our chat, it’s hard to imagine a better person for the position. Here, she talks about the importance of speaking out, celebrating women and learning to love herself…
What’s your advice for people who are struggling with self-love?
I think it’s so important to identify your inner bully and listen to what it’s saying to you. When you’re alone with it in front of the mirror, ask yourself: would I ever say that to someone that I love? Would I ever tell my mum that she’s too fat for love? Or that my friend is too old to try something new? No, I would never say that to people I love, and yet I have constantly said that to myself. Learning how to stand up for yourself in the [same] way you would stand up for another woman is an amazing way to reinforce what’s great about you.
How do you balance being supportive of other women while also calling them out?
I look at it as really calling other women in. I get criticised by women and I never consider them unfeminist for checking me. I consider it a compliment. We all have certain areas of ignorance and our internalised trauma sometimes bleeds out of us onto other people without us even realising. It’s really important for us to check each other, and I sure as shit would rather be checked by a woman than a man.
Have you now reached a place where you’re comfortable with your body?
It would be really disingenuous for me to say so, and it’s sad that society has had such an impact on me that my body dysmorphia has made it nearly impossible for me to love it so far, but I’m on my way to love. I think [when you force] positivity on people with the positivity memes, instructing someone that they have to love themselves, you’re setting them up for more failure.
How much progress have we made when it comes to body positivity and speaking up?
Our value systems have shifted in the last year. We’re learning gratitude from each other for our bodies and not taking things for granted any more. The more women we encourage and celebrate when they speak out, the more chance we have of coming together and ending the toxicity of misogyny.
How do you cope with internet trolling?
It’s 90% positive, but tabloids will pick up [on] one tweet that disagrees with me and turn it into “backlash”, because we love creating drama and disgrace around a woman. If you look into it, it’s one or two people.
Did you ever plan to become a spokesperson for women?
I was hoping that if I spoke, it would encourage others to speak too, and that’s still what I’m hoping for. I don’t want to be the centre of attention – I want to be part of a big movement that overturns the patriarchy. I just want for us all to fight this together. To love ourselves a bit, you know?