The actress Jaamela Alia Jamil (London, 38 years old), protagonist of The Good Place (Netflix, 2016), has spoken on several occasions about eating disorders. This time she has told details about her own experience as a former anorexia nervosa patient. It was this Wednesday, May 29, during her appearance at the podcast Let’s Talk off the Camera with Kelly Ripa. The actress and presenter on British television wanted to share with her audience some harsh statements in which she admitted that she “destroyed her body” with laxatives. “To be completely honest, I’m surprised she still has a hole in her ass,” she says. “I screwed up my kidney, liver, digestive system and heart. “Then the doctor alerted me that she was losing bone density,” she sincerely reveals during the sound production.
This is not the first time Jameela has spoken about her illness. In 2018, when she was at the height of his fame, recording the fourth season of The Good Placethe artist wrote about her in her then Twitter account (now X). “I was the teenager who starved herself for years, who spent all her money on these miracle cures and laxatives and tips from celebrities on how to maintain a lower weight than my body wanted. “She was sick,” she then shared to her followers, explaining the origin of her struggle. However, this time she wanted to go further, confirming that she is “a true warrior, a survivor.” “I took whatever pills, drinks or diets Oprah recommended. You know, any very low-calorie supermodel diet,” she states. She has also taken advantage of the radio interview to apologize to herself, closing a stage that led her to a vital decline: “I am very sorry for my body, and for having risked my future so much for a standard of beauty just to try to fit in.” with other people”.
The television presenter also says she is happy with all her progress as a person. She enthusiastically reveals that she has been “eating properly” for almost five years: “My hair has grown back, my energy has returned, my sexual desire too. Everything is better in my life.” Still, her achievements have not fully compensated for the physical damage the disease caused her. “I’m angry because now I’m in pain and everything is more complicated,” she says. Even so, she confesses that it helps her to provide support to people who are going through a similar situation: “I guess now I don’t think about myself as much. I have more ability to think about others and use all my energy to warn others.”
Jaamela has gone especially viral on multiple occasions for criticizing what she calls “the fraud of body activism.” “I am very upset with eating disorders and diets because there is a lot of talk about the dangers of having a larger body and almost no talk about the dangers of not eating enough, just eating too much.” Furthermore, her “real self” bases her speech on defending a positive image of her body, trolling some celebrities when she has deemed necessary. She has taken special pains with the Kardashian clan, pointing them out on social media as the axis of evil in terms of body image. “Damn you. You are a terrible, toxic influence on young girls. I admire your mother’s ability to make a brand, she is a genius, exploitative but innovative. However, this family makes me feel really desperate when I see what they reduce women to,” she stated furiously in May 2018 on her social networks after Kim Kardashian starred in the controversial campaign for Flat Tummy Co. satiating lollipops.
Another of her vigilante trolls that is worth highlighting was with Cardi B. The rapper published a video in which she advertised a drink detox and the actress went to her networks again to point her out unceremoniously: “God, I hope all these celebrities poop themselves in public in the same way that the poor women who buy this nonsense do thanks to their recommendation. Like they actually take it. It’s just that they need more money,” she ironized. Cardi B’s response was quick to arrive: “I’m never going to do it to myself because there are public bathrooms… and oh, bushes.” Jamil responded by publishing a video, which soon went viral, in which she parodied the reality of those who consume these slimming products. You just have to take a quick look at her social media to see her fair spirit regarding this issue.
