Jameela Jamil branded ‘annoying’ as she claims her ‘perfect’ skin was achieved through ‘privilege’

Jameela Jamil was branded ‘annoying’ and ‘condescending’ on Monday, after she claimed the key to her ‘perfect skin’ was privilege and supporting trans rights.

The Good Place star, 34, ignited the uproar after she shared a makeup-free selfie on Instagram ahead of Sunday’s virtual Emmy Awards and was complimented by a fan, who told her: ‘Your skin is so perfect.’

The outspoken actress then proceeded to list the reasons behind her epidermic achievement with a lengthy response.

She wrote: ‘My skin is clear because: A) Privileged people have more access to good quality nutrition and also our lives are significantly less stressful than the lives of those with less privilege.

‘I also get to sleep more because of this. All of these things keep my hormones in balance and I’m able to address food intolerance easily. B) I believe that trans rights are human rights… C) I exfoliate twice a week.’ 

In addition to her response, the British screen star then shared a screen shot of the exchange on her Instagram Stories, adding the caption: ‘Try not to compare your skin to that of privileged people too often. We don’t talk about this enough.’

Amid the supporting and fawning comments came a flood of criticism, some of which the London native took screen shots of and posted on Instagram. 

One read: ‘She didn’t compare anything she just gave you a complement & you took it as an opportunity to brag about your privilege.’

Another stated: ‘Girl don’t you see how out of touch… you sound? It was so condescending. No one was comparing their skin, they just complimented you. And you’re acting like “I’m rich that’s why, you’re poor sorry luv” is not a good look.’

‘Could she be more annoying,’ commented a third on the image-sharing platform.

Addressing the backlash in a caption accompanying the screen shots, she wrote: ‘Yesterday I posted a make up free selfie, and truly a few hundred girls started commenting on my clear skin.

‘I responded with a very honest comment about how privilege impacts my skin to make the point that people comparing themselves to privileged people is a losing game, and I wanted to shine a light on that because this entire industry feeds of the lack of transparency around this.

‘They say, “hey, with this cream/drink/gummy you can look JUST like me.” Without disclosing all the help they have behind the scenes.

‘I was met with so much support from women, and so much hatred from men. So much eye rolling, accusations of “virtue signalling” being called “annoying” for not just saying “thank you” and minding my business.

‘Some even said I was BRAGGING about privilege. This is a sign of such intense misogyny and also a sad state of the world where any act of good or truth is seen as some sort of hidden agenda/crime.

‘And people who don’t know me THINKING they understand me, or can predict my tone when I said something (maybe because they think I’m Tahani In real life! lol) is the funniest shit. We especially do this to women. We presume the worst.

‘The thing is, I used to have acne growing up, and at times in my twenties, full on painful cysts, and I used to HATE myself because I used to compare myself to celebrities. Then I MET them.

‘Then I saw what they look like without the airbrushing (while flogging skin care ads showing off perfect skin) and then I kind of became one, and saw in real time, how privilege physically impacted me.

‘And to keep that to myself, after so many years of hating myself over the lie… would be such a betrayal to the people who are kind enough to follow my work.

‘I really care about this generation and the ones to come after it, and I really don’t want to be part of the cycle of harm, so I’m gonna keep speaking out, whether or not people “trust” me. Because everything I’m saying is true, and truth is all that matters.

‘Have a great day. Don’t let assumptions get you down or silence you. It’s not personal… it’s misogyny and cynicism on steroids.’

She also shared one of her tweets, which read: ‘I would like to make it extremely clear that I don’t give a flying f**k about what people *think* my intentions are.

‘We do not as a society, have a great track record of trusting women’s intentions and have been set up to not trust women in general since the story of Eden.’

And it didn’t end there: Jameela returned to the platform hours later to assure fans she was ‘fine’ and not ‘stressed’, in answer to presumed concern about her posts.

She wrote: ‘Thank you all for so many supportive and loving messages over the past few weeks… bit’s it’s SO important you know I’m FINE. When I speak out about things, it’s easy to see it as me being stressed but I’m TRULY not. 

‘There is something so liberating about understanding the machine and the patriarchy, and realising how pathetic and fragile it is, which is why it works SO hard against us, because it is threatened.

‘So don’t worry about me. Things aren’t at all dramatic or stressful this end, I’m starting to find dismantling all the bullshit really, really fun. ‘Speaking out against injustices frees me, and keeps my depression AWAY.’