Actor and activist Jameela Jamil has defended English singer and songwriter Sam Smith after several trolls on Twitter and Instagram body-shamed them. Smith is at the center of trolls after they were seen in a corset and nipple pasties, among other luxe looks, in the new video for “I’m Not Here To Make Friends.”
While Smith has yet not made any comment on the controversy, actor and activist Jameela Jamil has defended them.
“People were OK with Sam Smith having curves when they were singing about being sad and lonely,” wrote The Good Place actor. “But happy, confident, and thriving Sam Smith is sending people over the edge.”
Jamil went on to share how “severe body image issues” are so prevalent within LGBTQ+ communities.
“Yet in 2023, people from within that very community even, jump at the chance to shame anyone who challenges the status quo. What threatens you about proof that you can be loved and love yourself without a (slightly pointless) 8-pack? she added.
In 2019, Sam Smith opened up to Jamil about their gender identity and said that they identify as non-binary.
“I have never spoken about this. When I saw the words ‘non-binary’ and ‘gender-queer’ and I read into it and I heard these people speaking, I thought f*ck — that is me. [They] mean to me that you do not identify in a gender, you are just you. You are a mixture of all different things, you are your own special creation. That's how I take it,” they told Jamil.
Smith also spoke at length about body image, telling Jamil that they was often self-conscious about their body as a child. “It was the basis of all my teasing, all my bullying,” they said.
The singer went on to explain that he underwent liposuction surgery at 12 years old after a doctor told him he carried an excess of the hormone estrogen. “I had some horrible situations in school,” they added.
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