Jameela Jamil Can’t Do Body Positivity: ‘I Believe in Just Not Thinking About Your Body’

Julie Mazziotta

Jameela Jamil is often seen as the leader of the body positivity movement, but she says that’s actually a miscategorization — she believes in body neutrality, or not caring about your body at all.

The Good Place star, 33, set the record straight during an appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Thursday, after Noah asked her about the body positivity movement.

“That movement is not for me,” she said. “That movement was designed for women who are discriminated against, like in front of doctors and in our society, because of their size. That is a must-have movement for those people. I am slender, so I’m not discriminated against, because of my size.”

Jamil said that she prefers body neutrality or body liberation.

“I believe in just not thinking about your body, and I have the luxury of being able to do that because I’m not being constantly persecuted for my size,” she explained, adding that it’s also the only way for her to manage her body dysmorphia.

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BODY LIBERATION! Why we should stop saying “everyone needs body positivity” when we feel shut out of the BoPo conversation. We do ABSOLUTELY all need to learn to stop hating our bodies. But that particular movement exists because other people who are bigger, are not believed by doctors, who are abused in the street and who can’t find clothing in their size are the ones that movement was designed for. If that’s not you, or if Bopo is still too much of a challenge for you, because it’s hard to actively love something society is always attacking (which is so unfair because we have the fucking RIGHT to love ourselves) then you can join us at @i_weigh in Body Liberation, whatever your size may be, if you like. Read up the history of the body positive movement and let’s all learn how to support those who are being actively attacked for their size without taking up their space. I constantly get labeled by the media as the “face of bopo” but that’s without my announcing that about myself. In fact, I have been trying to clear that up for over a year. At @i_weigh we are trying to focus on the inside not the outside. That’s not to say we don’t support BoPo. We do. It’s just not our lane.

A post shared by Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamilofficial) on Oct 4, 2019 at 4:23am PDT

“I just manage to get more things done in my day when I’m not thinking about my figure,” she said. “I can’t stand in front of a mirror and say, ‘Oh I love my thighs, I love my cellulite,’ — I can just not think about them, and think about my bank account and orgasms, you know?”

Jamil previously told PEOPLE that she actually stopped looking at her body in the mirror at all.

“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,” she says. “I’m not interested in my appearance. I still suffer from body dysmorphia so it can be very distracting for me. 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.”

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Jamil reposted a clip of the interview on her Instagram page, and explained that she never claimed to be part of the body positivity movement.

“I constantly get labeled by the media as the ‘face of bopo [body positivity]’ but that’s without my announcing that about myself. In fact, I have been trying to clear that up for over a year,” she said. “At @i_weigh we are trying to focus on the inside not the outside. That’s not to say we don’t support BoPo. We do. It’s just not our lane.”