The star of a hit Netflix show has spilled the beans about her hilarious encounter with Duchess Meghan, when the two worked together on her recent guest editor’s issue of British Vogue.
Meghan worked with the magazine’s editor-in-chief Edward Enninful on the upcoming September issue and declined his offer to appear on the cover, instead choosing to highlight 15 women who she described as “Forces For Change”.
The new issue promotes this amazing cohort of trailblazing changemakers, all of whom are “united by their fearlessness in breaking barriers,” according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.
One of these amazing women is British actress Jameela Jamil, who stars in the hit Netflix series The Good Place.
Jameela, 33, is an incredible body positivity activist and frequently calls out dangerous advertising and negative media messaging that makes women feel bad about their bodies, so she was a perfect fit for the “Forces For Change” theme.
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Jameela has more than two million followers on Instagram.
(Image: Getty Images)Jameela revealed that when she was first approached by Edward Enninful months ago to write an essay for Vogue on gender equality and societal expectations of women, she had no idea that Duchess Meghan was involved in the project at all.
“We weren’t told there was a guest editor, and definitely not that it was Meghan,” Jameela told Grazia UK.
She discovered the truth in the most hilarious way: “Meghan called me herself. I missed the call three times before I finally answered, I wanted to punch myself!”
Jameela Jamil (right) with her The Good Place co-star Kristen Bell.
(Image: NBC)“She explained that she’d guest-edited the issue, and apologised that the whole thing had been shrouded in so much secrecy. She said she had chosen to feature me because she’d seen what I had been doing and was a fan. To know that she had followed my work with [body positivity movement] I Weigh meant a lot.”
Jameela described Meghan as “warm, kind and actually very LOLs”.
“I had never met her before, but we chatted very openly. She told me how important gender equality was to her,” she revealed.
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Meghan’s “Forces For Change” British Vogue cover.
(Image: Instagram @sussexroyal)
A stunning behind-the-scenes picture of Meghan working on the issue.
(Image: Instagram @sussexroyal)Plus, the pair had a particularly hilarious connection, as Jameela’s character Tahani Al-Jamil actually making a reference to Meghan’s relationship with Prince Harry on The Good Place
In one episode, Tahani mentions that she was the matchmaker responsible for setting Harry and Meghan up in the first place.
(Of course, we know that’s not true! That special honour goes to a very different celebrity pal).
“She said she loved The Good Place,” Jameela revealed to Grazia.
“I then felt immediately embarrassed that she had seen me joke about her on the show. She said she’s grateful to Tahani for introducing her to Harry. I just replied, ‘You’re welcome’.”
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Jameela said that to be featured in the pages of Vogue was an incredible honour, especially for someone who has fought against the unrealistic body standards often perpetuated by women’s magazines.
“I was a teenage anorexic model and all I wanted was to be in Vogue,” she said.
“But it took me gaining 30lbs (14.6kg), to be in my thirties, and to be fighting against those very things to actually manage it. Here, our minds, talent and contribution were the focus, rather than our looks – and that is so important.”
