Jameela Jamil is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for the activism and she will star in the upcoming “She-Hulk” series.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about her.
- Her full name is Jameela Alia Jamil
- She was born 25 February 1986
- She is an English comedian, actress, presenter, and activist
- She began her career on Channel 4
- There she hosted a pop culture series in the T4 strand from 2009 until 2012
- She then became the radio host of The Official Chart
- She was the co-host of The Official Chart Update alongside Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1
- She was the first solo female presenter of the BBC Radio 1 chart show
- In 2016, Jamil relocated to the United States
- She is known for her role as Tahani Al-Jamil in the NBC fantasy comedy series The Good Place
- She is also known as the host of the TBS late night game show in The Misery Index
- She was also one of the judges of voguing reality competition show Legendary
- Jamil was born on 25 February 1986 in Hampstead, London,
- Her father is Indian, Ali Jamil
- Her mother is Pakistani-British, Shireen Jamil
- She stated in 2015 that she was born with congenital hearing loss and labyrinthitis, which she has had several operations to correct
- She had 70% hearing ability in her left ear and 50% in her right ear
- Jamil has stated that at the age of nine she was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
- This is a genetic disorder affecting the connective tissue in the body
- She was diagnosed with coeliac disease at age 12
- She has also stated she experienced mercury poisoning at age 21
- This attributed to mercury leakage from amalgam teeth fillings, and further exacerbated by the improper removal of them, which she said burned holes in her digestive system
- She has stated that she suffered as a teenager from anorexia nervosa, and describes not eating a full meal between the ages of 14 and 17
- She believes her eating disorder developed due to societal pressure, including magazine articles selling weight loss products
- She has said that at the age of 17 she was struck by a car while running from a bee, breaking several bones and damaging her spine
- She describes being told that she might never walk again, but slowly recovering after steroid treatment and physiotherapy, using a Zimmer frame to start walking
- She credits the car accident for pushing her towards recovery from anorexia, saying it changed her relationship with her body
- She attended Queen’s College School in London but was unable to complete her A-Levels, citing the accident
- She has stated she then taught English to foreign students at the Callan School of English in London for two years
- In a 2013 interview with The Independent, she said she worked as a model scout but never as a model
- Although in 2020, she stated she worked as a model but denied being one in early interviews
- She also describes having worked as a photographer, scout and model agent for Premier Model Management
- Jamil was one of fifteen women selected to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue “Forces for Change”, by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
- On 2 August 2019, Jamil was awarded “Advocate of the Year” from the Ehlers-Danlos Society
- Jamil received the “Phenom” award from the 12th annual Shorty Awards on 3 May 2020
- Jamil has been in a relationship with musician James Blake since 2015
- She publicly declared herself as queer after her appointment as a judge of voguing reality series Legendary received heavy criticism, as voguing ball culture is rooted in black and Latino LGBTQ communities in New York
- Jamil has also stated that she has experienced anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder
- On 10 October 2019, as part of World Mental Health Day, Jamil stated she survived a suicide attempt six years prior
- In an episode of the talkshow Red Table Talk in 2020, Jamil revealed that she attempted suicide for the second time eight years ago due to a nervous breakdown
- She also stated that she partook in EMDR therapy to treat her post traumatic stress disorder prior to her move to Los Angeles
- Jamil appeared on C4 Orange Rockcorps 2009, volunteering to help create a concert to fund local community projects
- She has supported the Cultural Learning Alliance, which promotes access to culture for children and young people
- And Vinspired National Awards for people aged 16–25 who have contributed to their communities through volunteering
- Jamil designed her own version of SpongeBob SquarePants to be auctioned off with all the proceeds going to Childline
- Jamil also said that she would wear a chicken costume for the same number of days equal to the number of thousands of pounds she raises for Comic Relief
- She was sponsored approximately £16,000 and wore the costume for 16 consecutive days
- Late in 2015, Jamil launched Why Not People?, an events and membership company dedicated to hosting live entertainment events accessible to people with disabilities
- In March 2018, Jamil created an Instagram account called I Weigh, inspired by a picture that she came across online of Kourtney, Kim and Khloé Kardashian with their half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, detailing each woman’s weight
- The account welcomes submissions of followers’ non-edited or airbrushed selfies using the hashtag #iweigh, with text describing the things that they feel grateful for or proud of
- In part due to this work, Jamil was listed as one of BBC’s 100 Women during 2018
- Jamil has been a critic of diet shakes and appetite suppressants
- She explained that in her teens she starved herself, took laxatives and tips from celebrities on how to maintain a low weight
- She has criticised the Kardashians, rapper Cardi B, and other influencers for promoting diet suppressants via social media
- Jamil created a petition via change.org, titled “Stop celebrities promoting toxic diet products on social media”, with a goal of reaching 150,000 signatures
- She called upon social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to ban the practice, noting its dangerous rhetoric on young impressionable teenagers
- In September 2019, Instagram rolled out new global policy restrictions to help protect teen users
- Using social media, Jamil often calls out media industry standards and labels other female celebrities as “double agents of the patriarchy” by promoting unhealthy body image, often invoking her own experience of having an eating disorder in her arguments
- In 2013, she criticised Rihanna in her column for Company magazine, blaming the artist for maintaining a relationship with her abuser for fame, smoking marijuana, and for posting “provocative images on Instagram to millions of hungry followers”
- In 2014, she voiced her disapproval of Beyoncé sexualising her public image like Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azalea and criticised all these artists for “delud[ing] themselves into thinking it’s ‘feminism’ if you get your fanny out on “your terms”
- In 2019, she called out rapper Cupcakke on Twitter for posting about doing a water fast
- Jamil often calls out Kim Kardashian for promoting unhealthy body ideals, such as by wearing a corset, promoting body makeup to cover skin imperfections such as psoriasis and for offering maternity shapewear for her fashion line
- In August 2020, Jamil announced on Twitter that she was deleting tweets from 2009 to 2020 in order to make her account more activism-focused
- Months later in November 2020, Jamil claimed that it was a third-party app which caused her Twitter posts to disappear in the previous months
- And that she had deleted her entire Twitter post history to figure out why her posts were being removed
- Jamil is against the airbrushing of editorial images and refuses to retouch all her photo shoots
- She is also critical of the fashion and modelling industry standards and remarked that runway models looked “long-starved” and “terrified”
- Jamil frequently references Victoria’s Secret models as a counterexample to her own identity
- She has also called Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld a “ruthless, fat-phobic misogynist” after his death
- Jamil also supports the climate change movement, expressing her admiration for Jane Fonda, Greta Thunberg and several other climate change activists
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