Jameela Jamil says 'f*** off' to claims that the 'heroin chic' body is back in style: 'It's all about control'
Is super skinny back in style? Jameela Jamil is shutting that notion down.
The star of The Good Place, 36, took to Instagram on Saturday to share a news story from The New York Post, which proclaimed in its headline, “Bye-bye, booty: Heroin chic is back.” The article details how stars like Kim Kardashian are losing weight after previously celebrating their curvier bodies, while slender models like Bella Hadid and Kaia Gerber are dominating the runway. Though the term “heroin chic” was originally associated with model Gia Carangi, who used heroin and died of AIDS in 1986, it is now used as a way to describe the extremely thin body type that dominated celebrity culture in the ‘90s and early aughts.
Jamil, however, is not having the return of that particular body trend — mostly because she doesn’t subscribe to the notion that bodies should be a trend at all. In the video, in which she appeared over the text of the Post’s article, the She-Hulk star said, “No, we tried this before in the 90s and millions of people developed eating disorders. I had one for like 20 years. We're not doing this again, we're not going back. Our bodies are not trends. Our body shapes are not trends. F*** off.”
In the caption, she added, “OUR BODIES ARE NOT TRENDS. SAY IT WITH ME. I'm starting Not Hungry Chic. Happy Chic. F*** off Chic? Anything but this.”
On Sunday, Jamil elaborated on the heroin chic controversy on Instagram in a series of videos.
"They want to look hungry," she said. "They're not even interested in you looking like a naturally skinny or athletic person. They want you to look like you have dark circles under your eyes, like you're dying. Like you haven't eaten a meal. You haven't slept because you're so full of drugs and anxiety trying to conform to their evil, submissive stereotype of is one form of what is glamorous and attractive to them. They want you to stay hungry because if you're hungry, you're too tired to stand up for your right to be treated like a human being who has the right to exist in any body and live any life that you want. It's all about control."
She also touched upon another issue leading to health complications: the use of prescription drugs with weight loss side effects. In her video, she spoke about how these drugs, including ones that are used to treat diabetes, come with dangerous side effects and can harm organs like your kidneys and thyroid. As someone who battled an eating disorder, she reminded her followers that the damage suffered from extreme weight loss methods, including taking medication, is "never worth it."
Jamil went further into detail in the caption of her post, writing, "I had an eating disorder for a long long time. I understand the motivation. But we just can't do this. We can't be this willing to bend to patriarchy. We know too much this time around, this isn't the 90s. We have come too far. We have to fight back. We have to recognize the cause of our insecurities. We have to stop glamorizing F***ING FAMINE. We have to stop putting our health and now the HEALTH OF OTHERS on the line for something as irrelevant as obedient forced thinness."
Jamil is no stranger to speaking out about body acceptance. In 2018, she began the social media movement I Weigh, which encouraged people to speak out about the things in their life that were more significant than the number on the scale, or what their body looked like. She also criticized stars like the Kardashian family for posting about weight loss tools like teas and lollipops on Instagram, which she said can encourage people to develop unhealthy eating habits.
In May, Jamil took to social media to celebrate gaining 10 pounds, after Kim Kardashian spoke about taking an extreme approach to weight loss in order to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s dress for the 2022 Met Gala and Kylie Jenner shared that she was down 40 pounds after having her second child. She wrote, "I hear Kim and Kylie keep publicly bragging about their fast weight loss. Well for balance, I am bragging that I gained 10 lbs. And I love it. Thank you for the delicious food that gave me these delicious boobs and thighs."
She reminded her followers, "If you want to change your body… Don’t do fast weight loss or gain for aesthetics. It’s BAD for your health. Your organs will thank you if you take your time. Patience is a virtue."
Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.
