For Valentine’s Day, singer-songwriter James Blake is publicly defending his girlfriend, ‘The Good Place’ star Jameela Jamil, amid accusations that she has lied about her health issues.
The latest controversy swirling around the actress ignited after she recently posted a photo of peanut butter-filled pretzels on her Instagram story, despite previously saying she suffered from a peanut allergy, among other health issues. Since she shared the snap, several online trolls have taken it upon themselves to diagnose Jamil with Munchausen syndrome, a disorder that causes a healthy person to pretend they are ill.
But Blake wasn’t having it, taking to Twitter on Friday to stand up for his partner and shame her haters.
“It’s pretty disgusting to watch the woman I love just be dog piled on every day for such ridiculous things,” he wrote in a lengthy letter. “She hasn’t sold dangerous products to kids. She hasn’t abused anyone. She hasn’t funded anything dangerous or brought any deliberate harm to any marginalised group. She’s just done her best as an ever learning human, as most of us are, to help people with her privilege.”
Among the myriad medical conditions Jamil has said she’s endured are partial deafness as a child, the inner-ear disorder labyrinthitis, numerous ear infections, a severe shellfish allergy, mercury poisoning, spinal damage from a car accident, a concussion “that caused atonal seizures,” Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, celiac disease, a breast cancer scare in 2014, and cervical cancer in 2016 and 2019 — “both during [‘The Good Place’].”
As for the peanut snack, the self-love advocate explained on Twitter earlier this week that her allergy had “cleared up” as she got older. Doctors say it is possible for people to grow out of peanut allergies.
“I am there for her swollen joints, her dislocations, her severe allergic reactions, her constant high fevers,” Blake continued in his note. “I was there for her concussion, her three months of seizures, when the doctor gave her the cancer diagnosis, and for all her operations and their complications due to EDS. ... You don’t know this woman. ... You don’t know what her life is, and has been like. But I do, and I’m not gonna stand by and let some total strangers try to push my girlfriend over the edge.”
“You’re my best friend and my biggest love,” Jamil tweeted in response to Blake’s message, which, he contended, he would have released earlier if he’d had his girlfriend’s permission. The outspoken TV star has already addressed her sceptics directly, declaring she’s “not afraid of you or your dumb internet conspiracy theories.”
“Keep them coming,” she tweeted on Tuesday. “You just add to my relevance. I’m gonna keep helping people with eating disorders, and changing laws and global policies to protect kids and their mental health and there’s NOTHING you can do about it.”
The Munchausen allegations are the latest development in what has been a turbulent time for Jamil, who came under fire last week when HBO cast her as a host on a vogueing competition show for its forthcoming streaming service, HBO Max. Amid complaints that she was too straight to insert herself into a space created by and belonging to the LGBTQ community, Jamil later identified herself as queer, adding, “This is absolutely not how I wanted it to come out.”
“First I’m lying about my sexuality, now I’m now being accused of munchausens? ... You can keep it,” the ‘Misery Index’ emcee tweeted on Tuesday. “Ehlers Danlos Syndrome means always having people doubt your illness and injuries because you look okay.”
