Jameela Jamil had a tough teenage life. At the age of 14, she developed anorexia (loss of appetite) and body dysmorphia after one of her class projects required her to be weighed in front of her entire class. Also, she did not have a lot of friends for any kind of support.
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, “The Good Place” star said that she believes that her teenage loneliness contributed to her eating disorder, making it worse.
Jamil said, “I was really unhappy and I think it contributed to my ability to have an eating disorder for so long, because there was no one kind of monitoring me and I had no one to turn to with my sadness and bad feelings, so I just had a really rough time as a teenager.”
She is now teaming up with Bumble BFF, which is the friendship mode of the dating app, to encourage more and more people to connect with potential BFF’s.
Jamil said, “I’ve had lots of experiences with loneliness myself, and I wish that I had an app like this when I was a teenager, so that I could have met other people who were also looking for friendship and companionship.”
“I’m socially awkward, and there was no set up to help socially awkward people admit they were socially awkward and that they needed a little bit of a boost to find friends. And I love the idea of de-stigmatizing the feeling of loneliness. Everyone gets lonely from time to time,” continued Jamil.
The T4 actor said she eventually learned how to make new friends but it required a lot of effort.
Jamil said, “I’ve learned how to suck it up and make an effort and put myself on the line and ask people out for coffee. I’ve even officially asked people to be friends, just to make sure that everyone’s in agreement that there’s some sort of friendship forming. I started doing more things that I love and meeting more people via that, and I’ve found more people who had the same interests.”
“A friend is a witness to your life, which I think is something really beautiful and amazing and really shapes your bond with someone,” the 33-year-old said.
“We go through a lot as a woman or just generally as a human and having someone to share that with and having someone in your corner and tells you that you’re wrong when you doubt yourself is so unbelievable. I don’t think I would be the person that I am without my adult friendships and their love and support,” added Jamil.
Talking about her struggle with body dysmorphia, she said, “The only time I look in the mirror is when I put on my eyeliner in the morning and when I take it off at night. I’m not interested in my appearance. I still suffer from body dysmorphia so it can be very distracting for me.” Jamil added, “Doing that has helped me concentrate on progressing and doing things that enrich my life, like watching my career grow and my relationships grow. that’s what gives me a wonderful sense of self.”
