Jameela Jamil is embracing her “shallow, boring, mean” side.
She spoke out over the weekend amid the Gossip Girl alum’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni after private emails were released in which she called Blake Lively a “suicide bomber.”
“I don’t want to be a Hollywood robot speaking through the lens of a publicist,” Jamil wrote in an essay published on Substack. “I don’t want to carefully craft my output so that my avatar is liked. I want to be liked and disliked for who I really am.”
The Good Place star, 39, said she hated how her “privacy was invaded” by having her texts “leaked unedited”. However, she feels a “sense of freedom” from it.
“I get criticized a lot, not just because I’m always trying to deliver a cannonball shock from a pedestal, but just because I do,” she explained. “But because we need to see more examples of how women talk to their girlfriends when they’re hurting.”
Jamil said the private messages were “vigorous” as he was upset and angry that his friend and publicist was “being treated unfairly”.
“I’m creating a space for the Itty Bitty S-ty Committee, a safe and private space where no one is unfairly criticized for gossip or being shallow or petty or mean,” she said. “It’s a victimless crime. I want her to know I’m doing my best. From Thelma to my girlfriend Louise. I’ll be holding her hand all the way off the cliff.”
Jamil described herself as a friend who has “held a grudge for 20 years” against the person who made her cry.
“I call it fempathy. It’s a particularly female experience that I love, and that’s why female loneliness isn’t as prevalent, because we’re driving at dawn for each other,” she explained.
An August 2024 text exchange between Jamil and Baldoni’s publicist Jennifer Abel was included in court filings made public last week.
During the conversation, Abel responded to a TikTok video criticizing Lively as tone-deaf while promoting her film It Ends with Us, in which she co-stars with Baldoni. (At the time, Lively was criticized for promoting hair care products and discussing floral fashion, even though the film was about domestic violence.)
Abel texted Jamil, “I want to officially incorporate nightmare c–t and devil c–t into my vocabulary. I can’t believe it. She’s doing this to herself.”
Jamil answered bluntly, “She’s a suicide bomber at this point.”
Abel then responded to Lively’s response to the backlash, with the “A Simple Favor” star posting a link to a domestic violence hotline and explaining that her character in the film was more than “just a victim.”
“Did you see Blake posted the Survivor link?” Abel asked, to which Jamil replied, “Dead,” before adding that Lively’s post was “so cold.”
Both Abel and Jamil agree that they hate Lively, with Jamil adding, “I’ve never seen such a bizarre villain performance. She’s over.”
A source close to the situation told Page Six last week that Jamil’s mean comments were “unfortunate.”
“It’s unfortunate that when women raise their voices, they are not listened to and other women are badmouthing them,” the source said.
However, Jamil quickly came to her defense, explaining in an Instagram Story video that feminism “means fighting for political, social and economic equality for women. It’s just gender equality.”
“It doesn’t mean you have to like every woman,” she continued. “That doesn’t mean you have to be friends with every woman.”
The activist believes that being a feminist means “you can actually fight other women.”
“You can criticize them. You can do whatever you want as long as you are fighting for their human rights to the same things that men have in this world,” she said.
Baldoni, 42, and Lively, 38, have been feuding since filming the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name.
Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment in December 2024, which Baldoni vehemently denied.
The “Jane the Virgin” star sued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for defamation and countersued for $400 million. He also sued the New York Times for defamation after it reported on the lawsuit against Lively.
In June 2025, a judge dismissed both of Baldoni’s counterclaims, but the legal battle against Lively and Baldoni is still ongoing.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call our Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
