One of my current favorite shows is “The Good Place.” (i have posted before, but can’t find the link.) When I can’t deal with the world, I will re-watch season one and just bask. Generally, I don’t care about celebs, but this actress, Jameela Jamil, caught my eye because she has activist interests and is so funny about her feminist point of view, I thought, why not check it out.
From podcast GirlBoss, I learned that in the UK, she was a famous DJ and music tastemaker, dogged by paparazzi, and she had some health issue that caused her to gain 75 pounds and was always in the papers for being formerly beautiful, which offended to the point where she began an online “i weigh” campaign where she invites women to list all their accomplishments (career, survivor, struggle, not just resume highlights) instead of their weight. In her senior year of high school, she broke her back in a car accident and had to heal in bed for one year. By the time she was healed, everyone she knew had graduated and she could not bear to go back to school.
She had a health scare where she thought she had cancer and made a bucket list. Once her diagnosis was benign, she decided to follow through with living outside her comfort zone. She bought a ticket to live abroad, and through her UK entertainment experience, got an agent. She auditioned for two gigs and booked both. One was to host a magic show in Vegas where she would watch magicians all day or “the Good Place.” With no acting experience, she decided to pursue “the Good Place,” since that choice seemed to be more in line with her post-cancer scare philosophy to take risks. (Jees, that must have been stressful as h*ll) She learned on the jobs and sobbed when Season one wrapped, completely convinced she had been fired.
At the conclusion of the podcast interview, she says “O’ve been thin, rich, and famous, and I wasn’t happy” (referring to her time in the UK). That’s what Jim Carrey says all the time too, that fame and wealth do not make you happy. I believe them. (However, I would also like to be rich, famous, and successful, so that i can have a podcast, and say “oh my god, you guys, it’s so true, it doesn’t matter, you guys…”
Anyway, I’m here for this actress’ feminist ways. Read here for her very funny take of it.