Jameela Jamil says she was weighed at school and compared to classmates by teacher
Jameela Jamil has said she was weighed at school and compared to her classmates by her teacher.
The actor, 36, said she was made fun of after being weighed because she was the “tallest and the biggest”.
Speaking on the Guardian’s Pop Culture With Chanté Joseph podcast, Jamil said: “We weren’t aware of our bodies yet, no one was pulling in their tummies and we were so innocent, but we all got weighed and she [the teacher] put our names on a chart like a leaderboard.
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“I weighed the most because I was the tallest and the biggest, and I was immediately made fun of. It was so quick, even as kids, for us to realise that there was a hierarchy and that that hierarchy involves thinness and how little space you take up.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, Jamil said the return of the “heroin chic” trend, which champions extreme thinness, could lead to more eating disorders.
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“No, we tried this before in the 90s and millions of people developed eating disorders,” Jamil told Joseph. “I had one for 20 years. We’re not doing this again, we’re not going back.”
Jamil added that the trend’s return was undoing the good work of the body positivity and body neutrality movements.
“It can’t be about beauty because of how many beautiful people exist in different shapes and sizes and bodies and disabilities and non disabilities. This is about control and distraction,” she added.
“It’s a backlash to many people embracing their curves and not buying into the diet industry. But we control the market, we are the market, women in particular. They don’t get to tell us what the trends are. We will tell them what the trends are.”
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On 7 November Jamil commented on the heroin chic trend on Instagram, writing: “HOW ABOUT INSTEAD OF THESE INDUSTRIES STARVING US, WE STARVE THEM. We control the market. We control the trends. We choose who gets and stays famous. We control who gets to be the big media outlet. They are OUR Guinea pigs. We can just not buy the shit they are selling. We have ALL the POWER.”
She added: “The trend will pass and the phase will end. It can't survive without us. It is NOT WORTH anything to harm yourself for it. It's MEANINGLESS.
“Push back. Say no. Let's destroy this s*** together.”
Watch: Jameela Jamil's workout snacks
