The Good Place star Jameela Jamil has said that “20 years of dieting has damaged my bone density”, which she discovered after going for a scan after experiencing “a lot of pain”.
The actress and TV presenter, 38, who is an advocate for body positivity has spoken at length about various health problems she has endured throughout her life, including anorexia.
On Tuesday, the former T4 host made a plea for people to “not let diet culture drag you to where I am”.
“Yesterday I got the results from my bone density scan,” she said on Instagram.
“I have been in a lot of pain lately and it turns out 20 years of dieting has hurt my bone density.
“My bone density. In my 30s.
“Please please please do not let diet culture drag you to where I am.
“I know people think I’m annoying for going on and on about the harm of not eating enough, but no compliment I have ever received is worth the pain and regret of what happens to your body when you do extreme things for fast results.
“My passion against diet culture is born of something that is not Holier than thou.
“It is a desperate plea for you to not end up like me.”
People who are underweight or anorexic are very likely to have low bone density, which can cause osteoporosis, a disease that weakens your bones, according to The Royal Osteoporosis Society.
She added: “So much chat about the dangers of eating too much and crickets when it comes to the long term impact of eating too little.
“I’m so sorry to my body.
“I’m so embarrassed that I did this to you. You tried to keep me alive and I tried to kill you.
“I will spend the rest of my life fixing you and trying to stop others from hurting their bodies.
“The reason I get so mad when celebrities push these ideals is because we have the money for the tests that detect the horrific side effects of extreme dieting.
“Most of the people emulating celebrity bodies and eating practices do not.
“If they mess up their bodies there is a team of experts ready to patch them up. Most do not have that luxury. And nobody talks about it.
“F*** diet culture.”
Activist Jamil has hit out at celebrity diet culture before and said in an interview with BBC Hardtalk in 2020 that famous people should be honest about their surgeries.
That same year she hit back at claims she made up health issues for attention, including her diagnosis with a genetic tissue disease as a child, her battles with an eating disorder and damaging her spine after being run over by a car aged 17.
On Instagram, London-born Jamil said she felt “upset” after being “gaslit and targeted for harassment” by a viral post and said that “some people have sad, empty lives”.