“Every twist and turn in life is an opportunity to learn something new about yourself, your interests, your talents, and how to set and then achieve goals.”
― Jameela Jamil
“For me, growing up felt like a roller coaster ride at times, but looking back, I don’t think that it was such a bad thing. It was all part of the excitement of being young.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Surround yourself with people and things that inspire you. Learn everything you can.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Sometimes life limits your choices – rising tuition costs may put university out of reach, or like me, personal circumstances might simply make it difficult to complete your education.”
― Jameela Jamil
“With a doughnut in each hand, anything is possible.”
― Jameela Jamil
“If you want someone, you have to be willing to wait for them and trust that what you have is real and strong enough for them to wait for you. If somebody jumps ship for you, that fact will always haunt you because you’ll know they’re light on their feet. Spare yourself the paranoia and the pain and walk away until the coast is clear.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I get particularly depressed by the way teenagers are portrayed in the media. They are massively underestimated. They are bright, intelligent people who are given less and less opportunity. They are an ignored generation.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Chips. All day. Every day.”
― Jameela Jamil
“If you’re in the public eye, you’re constantly scrutinised. I was called too thin and then too fat when I was overweight. It’s just a shame those are the reactions people have.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’m not trying to prove myself, and I’m not trying to shock anyone.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’ve got quite an old-fashioned figure. Back in the Sixties, girls had boobs, a tummy and wide hips, and bigger thighs as well. I think that’s sexy – to me, that’s what a woman looks like. I’ve got love handles – sometimes they’re passion handles! I’m built for comfort, not for speed, and I like that about myself.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Along the way, I learned a lot about being told I didn’t have the right skills for the jobs I wanted and how to overcome the setbacks and keep pushing forward. This is why I’ve become an Ambassador for LifeSkills, a programme created by Barclays to help one million young people get the skills they need for work.”
― Jameela Jamil
“After the cancer-free diagnosis, I thought I’d go off and do the things I never did in my teens and twenties. I realised putting things off in life can be dangerous because suddenly you can find you’ve run out of time.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I think compassion is the only way to approach any subject, especially if it’s to do with physical appearance. I don’t think it’s really about tearing something apart.”
― Jameela Jamil
“A lot of the things that happened to me came out of the blue, but I’m exactly the same person now as I was when I was sick. I’m still a very optimistic person.”
― Jameela Jamil
“As a young child, I suffered all sorts of digestive problems and was constantly under the weather.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’ve had versions of disability my whole life, first with my hearing and then when I couldn’t walk for over a year.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I suffered a lot of setbacks when I started; I didn’t have any work experience and no real confidence to go after the career that I knew in the back of my mind I really wanted. It affected my confidence as knock-back after knock-back left me feeling like I might never succeed.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Something I can’t stress enough is the massive importance of work experience. It’s the only way to find out what work is really like when you’re figuring out what path to take and to get an understanding of what it takes to achieve your career ambitions.”
― Jameela Jamil
“The concept of plus-size is so derogatory and weird. What does that mean? Plus the normal size? It shouldn’t exist any more.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Women’s bodies have always been used as a spectacle and objectified.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I knew it was right to make time for myself to have adventures and fulfil dreams.”
― Jameela Jamil
“School was horrific for me, constantly an outcast for being a geek.”
― Jameela Jamil
“With the arrogance of youth, I thought, ‘I don’t drink, don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs, so why would I get cancer?’ The week I spent waiting for the result of the biopsy to see if it was malignant felt like the longest of my life.”
― Jameela Jamil
“My digestive system was so damaged that I became allergic to almost everything, including fruit and vegetables, and the only thing I could stomach was chicken and chips.”
― Jameela Jamil
“You see the music videos and the bling and the cars, but all of that goes home at the end of the shoot. They make nothing because there’s less and less money in the music industry.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I was always very quiet, and I think everyone thought that was because I was a good child. I’d sit there in silence, but it wasn’t until my mother was calling me one day when I was very young that she realised something was wrong because I wasn’t responding.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I wanted to be a part of telling women there is no segregation. There is no need to ever not feel beautiful or glamorous. There should be nothing that gets in your way.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Having an education is extremely valuable, but we need to help people connect their choice of studies to a potential career at an earlier age so that they are better prepared to get the job they want when the time comes.”
― Jameela Jamil
“One of the perks of growing up, but also one of the biggest challenges, is making decisions about the future. Deciding what kind of job you want, whether you want to finish school, or whether you want to go to university are huge choices to make.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I look back at my old school journals, and they’re full of self-hatred, full of me condemning myself for not being prettier, richer, more popular.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’ve always been passionate about the concept of helping the underdog. It just doesn’t make sense to me as to what kind of person would take a huge platform and not use it to do something, to change something, to help people.”
― Jameela Jamil
“If you have time to get your pet rabbit its own Instagram account, you have time to at least tweet about something important.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Restaurants don’t cater properly for celiac sufferers, and neither do supermarkets.”
― Jameela Jamil
“It might seem a psychotic, insane thing, quitting a job after I’d built a great career over eight years, but it was a wake-up call. All too often we ignore those, forget that we don’t know how long we’re here for and that we need to make the most of every moment.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I didn’t really have a group of friends ’till I was 19, and I didn’t kiss anyone until I was 21.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I was born partially deaf and suffered from labyrinthitis, which affected my balance. I had numerous ear infections and spent my childhood in and out of hospital having operations.”
― Jameela Jamil
“The doctor said, ‘You have a lump on your breast’. Hearing those words was a reminder, a kick up the bum if you like, telling me that life is very unpredictable.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Three women in my family, close relatives, have had breast cancer, and two have died from it, and still I never thought it could happen to me. I didn’t even regularly check my breasts.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Shaming people isn’t productive. That makes you feel bad about yourself.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I had to learn to accept myself despite the fact that I was seriously underweight. I had to try and feel sexy.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Initially I struggled to find gluten-free products, but things have gradually improved, and now retailers like Holland & Barrett – with their new Free From range – are starting to cater for celiacs.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Sometimes gluten is even added to chips, which is really annoying.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I became allergic to virtually all fruits and vegetables, and my weight tumbled. I am 5ft. 10in. but dropped to just 8 st. 7lbs.”
― Jameela Jamil
“When I stepped into the industry, I was dealt this bizarre persona of being this sarcastic fashionista ‘it girl’ who is friends with loads of celebrities. That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I was a model scout. I was never a model, but they just dropped the scout.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I was interviewing Daniel Craig and Naomie Harris for a Bond film a few years ago, and the moment I sat down, my dress ripped. No more bodycon numbers for me. I had to walk out of the room backwards when I was done.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’ve been amazingly lucky, and believe me, I don’t take anything for granted.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I was so overwhelmed by the amazing response I had from thousands of women saying they felt beautiful in my first collection, I wanted to design more clothes they could love themselves in.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I was 23 and saw my face on the side of the big T4 bus at V Festival and almost fainted.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’m acting in a new show on NBC with Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, which is definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever done.”
― Jameela Jamil
“A few years ago, I fell in love with a man before realising he was married.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Some people cheat because they want to, because they can, because it gives them a thrill, or because they just can’t do long-term relationships.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’m going to get controversial here and say that monogamy isn’t natural, especially not for men. It’s a concept society birthed a few hundred years ago, even though men’s DNA is busy telling them to spread the seed.”
― Jameela Jamil
“More women need to stick together.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Whenever I get negative comments on Twitter, it’s always from girls – often ones who are trying to make it in the media. I don’t understand why we can’t put that energy into uniting and supporting each other instead.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I like the fact that Tess Holliday is comfortable in her own skin and loves herself. I think that’s a hugely positive message that women of all sizes really need to adopt.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Hopefully, no one will feel self-conscious in anything that I’ve designed.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I thought it would be more of a challenge than it was to cater for every size, but as you’re aware of a woman’s curves – they’re kind of like a race track – you can create something glamorous and beautiful.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Britain’s way of dealing with disability is just to try and pretend it’s not happening. A swift sweep under the carpet.”
― Jameela Jamil
“So many people are campaigning, fighting, and even dying to make a statement in the name of humanity. These people have no voice that can be heard by many. I wish more celebrities would take the initiative to be that voice.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I’m not saying all men are likely to cheat.”
― Jameela Jamil
“What kind of woman tries to fat-shame a heavily pregnant woman?”
― Jameela Jamil
“What does this Heidi Parker look like pregnant? What does she look like first thing in the morning? Or bending over? What do any of these bloody ‘journalists’ look like that makes them find the normal appearance of celebrities so offensive?”
― Jameela Jamil
“Kim Kardashian was the first time I’ve seen a woman tormented about her weight gain while having a baby. But at least she asks for that attention by voluntarily obsessing over her weight publicly on her social media. But now nobody is safe.”
― Jameela Jamil
“We are genuinely in a world that criticises women even when they are going through the biggest physical challenge of their life: pregnancy.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I am an Asian woman. I am a size 12 Asian woman. I have been a size 18 Asian woman. I have been a size 6 Asian woman. I have been a size 18 disabled Asian woman.”
― Jameela Jamil
“At no point in my thirty years have I ever felt truly represented by the fashion industry.”
― Jameela Jamil
“For a while, I became a model scout and agent, thinking naively I could change the industry from the inside, and even kicked off the famous ‘size zero debate’ with an article I wrote to the ‘Evening Standard’ about my concerns from behind the curtain of the business, back in 2005.”
― Jameela Jamil
“When I was a model at 15, I was eating one red pepper a day, and if I had a big day of castings, I would survive off a bag of Haribo, which gave me the 500 calories a day that would keep me alive. I was congratulated daily on my appearance – the more vertebrae upon my back you could count, the better my auditions went.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I find it infuriating that in this industry, size 10 and above is defined as ‘plus size,’ especially when the average dress size in the U.K. is a 16.”
― Jameela Jamil
“We really shouldn’t be putting a label on size. Fashion is for all, and I think confidence and happiness is more important than dress labels.”
― Jameela Jamil
“There shouldn’t be a segregation of women over a size 16, it should just be all women who want to wear beautiful clothes.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I am a Radio 1 DJ and campaigner for women feeling confident at every size.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Many weight issues stem from illness, be it physical or, indeed, emotional. And a large portion of people who sometimes struggle to maintain a ‘healthy’ weight deal daily with their own self-esteem crises.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Food or the lack thereof can, at times, be coping mechanisms for people. While this isn’t the best approach to good health, it’s a part of people’s realities. And it is nothing to be ashamed of.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I couldn’t wait to leave school. So I did it as soon as I possibly could at 16. I had no clue what I wanted to do next other than being at school wasn’t it and that I was desperate to make my own way as soon as I could.”
― Jameela Jamil
“One of the brilliant things I realised after I’d left school is that there are so many ways you can learn. I do this best on the job.”
― Jameela Jamil
“It feels great to know that more people are finding work and gaining the experience, not to mention self-confidence, that they need.”
― Jameela Jamil
“To those out of work, it may seem unfair for someone to complain that they aren’t happy with the type of work they are doing, but the more we like our jobs, the better we do them. In the long run, this doesn’t just make us happy – it makes businesses more successful and increases employment even further.”
― Jameela Jamil
“People don’t tend to be unhappy in jobs doing something that they love, so I think it’s important that those entering the world of work for the first time are given as much information as possible on how to get into the career that they want.”
― Jameela Jamil
“The economy, unemployment, the future… Politicians, economists, and journalists are constantly debating these key issues for our country but rarely come to an answer. But behind all this, there is a fairly simple truth: no matter what anybody says, jobs are hard to come by.”
― Jameela Jamil
“We’re in a situation where talented, motivated school leavers and graduates can send off a hundred CVs and not get a reply, and where a trip to the Job Centre is depressing rather than inspirational. And you know what, that just feels wrong.”
― Jameela Jamil
“If someone had told me age 14 to start making serious decisions about my career, I’d have laughed!”
― Jameela Jamil
“I got my transferrable skills from working at entry-level, gauging what I wanted from my career, and making sure I had what it took to get the one I truly wanted. But now there’s a Catch 22: school leavers need experience to get jobs, but they can’t get experience without jobs.”
― Jameela Jamil
“There was a time when I was young and unemployed, struggling to start my career. During my A-Levels, I was hit by a car, which shattered my bones and left me confined to my bedroom for a year. Weirdly, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Some young people can rely on a privileged background and great connections to get work experience, but I don’t believe anybody can be guaranteed success nowadays.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Radio 1 has always championed women; take Annie Nightingale, for example. One of my heroes.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I essentially grew up listening to Radio 1, the chart show in particular. It was a routine, as for many young people. Every Sunday, I waited patiently to be told who was on top.”
― Jameela Jamil
“People are so passionate about their favourite artists making it to number 1, it almost reminds me of football fanaticism. Nowadays, it’s ‘One Direction’ vs ‘The Wanted.’ Back in my day, it was ‘Oasis’ vs ‘Blur’.”
― Jameela Jamil
“I used to wear these big shapeless clothes and ended up just looking like a potato in a sack. I’ve learnt now to accentuate the bits that I’m happiest with. That’s probably my waist – a lot of my clothes go in at the waist and emphasise my hips, which I’m very proud of.”
― Jameela Jamil
“Most of my friends are male. And I’ve known some of them to literally go through mental breakdowns and still not talk about how they feel. Except to me. My shoulders are sodden with the tears of men.”
― Jameela Jamil
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