Let this be a cautionary tale.
“The Good Place” actress Jameela Jamil, an outspoken advocate for body positivity, shared a video on Tuesday parodying those ubiquitous celebrity ads for diet shakes and detox teas.
Jamil, who over the weekend took shots at Cardi B and Khloe Kardashian for promoting detox teas, takes her criticism a couple steps further with this video, which she said in a caption shows what it would look like if “celebrities and influencers were honest with us about some of these diet/detox products.”
It’s not exactly glam.
″Hi you guys, I just had to tell you guys about this new supermodel shake I’ve been drinking,” she says over a background of fart noises. “I’ve only been taking it for three days and have already lost 35 pounds, and I’ve got abs but I’ve never done a day’s exercise in my life.” Then she runs off, presumably to the bathroom.
Later in the video, a makeup-smudged Jamil tells viewers while sitting uncomfortably on the toilet: “Hi guys. I’ve been here for like three days but I still feel amazing and super skinny so, for a discount, go to my bio.”
And, well, some shit goes down.
Jamil has railed against the harms of influencer diet ads in previous social media posts, suggesting people seek nutritionists or trainers if they’re looking to get healthy. “GOD I hope all these celebrities all shit their pants in public, the way the poor women who buy this nonsense upon their recommendation do,” she wrote in her weekend Twitter post.
Earlier this year, Jamil called out Kim Kardashian for promoting appetite suppressant lollipops. Kardashian later deleted the ad.
“No. Fuck off. No. You terrible and toxic influence on young girls. I admire their mother’s branding capabilities, she is an exploitative but innovative genius, however this family makes me feel actual despair over what women are reduced to,” she wrote in response to Kardashian’s push for the product.
To combat unhealthy role models, Jamil launched the “I_Weigh” campaign on Instagram, encouraging women to share their qualities and accomplishments rather than focusing on appearance.
The actress herself has long struggled with body image and has been open about her eating disorders. Jamil told BuzzFeed’s “AM to DM” a math activity involving being weighed in front of school classmates as a teen prompted a lengthy battle with body image issues.
“We had to be weighed in front of each other and you would see the number come up in front of everyone,” the actress told the outlet. “And I was the heaviest girl in the whole year, and so ... for the next three weeks all I could hear was people talking about how I was the heaviest girl in the year.”
She added: “I think I stopped eating around then and it developed into full-formed anorexia, and I had like body dysmorphia around 14.”