Jameela Jamil’s Take on Hollywood’s ‘Aesthetic of Emaciation’ Is Going Viral

Actor and advocate Jameela Jamil shared her thoughts about the current “aesthetic of emaciation” regarding women’s bodies in Hollywood via TikTok. And from the comments, it seems like her analysis of the situation has struck a chord with many people looking for the words to capture a complicated situation.

The recent discourse over body image, the widespread embrace of Ozempic, and public chatter about celebrity weight loss have given rise to the question: When are we allowed and not allowed to talk about a celebrity’s body?

Jamil’s message isn’t about calling out one particular woman, but rather focuses on a noticeable pattern. Here’s what she says in the video: “It is not body-shaming to comment on the fact that there is a rapid rise of the aesthetic of emaciation amongst women in Hollywood. Women in their 20s, 30s, 40s—50s, even—all of a sudden becoming so thin that you can see their ribs; you can see their hip bones jutting out…. No one’s saying, ‘Eww, they look disgusting….’ That would be body-shaming. What we are commenting on it for is because it’s so widespread; it’s so extreme, [and] it’s happened so fast…. What happened to the movement of women being allowed to eat and accept their bodies and accept growing older?”

Jameela Jamil also linked this upswing in skinny stars to the rising trend toward conservative aesthetics (conservatism is historically linked with stricter beauty standards) and pointed out the many health risks of poor nutrition. Though it’s impossible to pinpoint any one cause for this shift, ignoring it is not the answer, added Jamil.

“What’s going on? Some people are born tiny and frail and fragile. But these are people who weren’t tiny and frail and fragile before. They were all small…but none of them this frail-looking,” said Jamil plainly. “It’s okay for us to say that this feels very discombobulating.”

“When those of us who are commenting on whatever the hell is going on in Hollywood with concern in our hearts, not just for the women who are projecting these images but for the women and girls that they’re projecting those images onto, it’s not body-shaming. It’s not anti-body-positivity,” she concluded. “It is calling out a pattern that is rapidly emerging that is scaring the forking shirt [sic] out of us.”

From the comments, it seems many agree with her assessment, as they offered their own theories, shared concerns, or simply thanked Jamil for speaking up. “If we saw pets like cats and dogs this thin, we’d scream animal abuse,” one person pointed out. “Thank you for mentioning osteoporosis. Women need to do weight-bearing exercise and eat enough protein to prevent it,” commented another. A number of people wrote that denying the body (and the mind) proper nutrition is a form of societal control; one commenter aptly summarized: “They don’t want women educated. They don’t want women in shape.”