Jameela Jamil has been forced to defend herself after questions were raised about her medical history. Photo / Getty Images
Jameela Jamil has been forced to defend herself after questions were raised about her medical history. Photo / Getty Images
Actress Jameela Jamil has slammed a series of "unhinged" conspiracy theories about her that have circulated widely on social media this week.
The claims originated in a thread of Instagram Stories posted this week by writer Tracie Egan Morrissey, who collated alleged discrepancies in Jamil's accounts of various illnesses and injuries she's had over the years.
Morrissey claimed it was evident the Good Place actor has Munchausen's Syndrome, a condition that causes an individual to repeatedly and knowingly fake mental or physical illnesses for attention.
Throughout her life, London-born actress and presenter Jamil, 33, has suffered a series of debilitating illnesses, car crashes and bee attacks, all of which she's spoken about publicly.
Morrissey said her suspicions were raised when Jamil claimed to have lost a tooth and broken her nose and elbow after suffering a fall while filming a TV interview with pop star Olly Murs.
Footage of the incident (see the video player at the top of the story) confirms it was a nasty fall, with an ambulance called to set. But Jamil then carried on filming:
Morrissey's Instagram stories - Jamil continued with the interview after her fall. Photo / Instagram
"Have you ever heard of adrenaline?" Jamil tweeted today when one Twitter user questioned how she was able to keep filming despite her injuries. "I was able to keep filming for an hour after the accident. I didn't know at the time I was concussed. I was in shock. I felt no pain.
"And stuck my tooth in with adhesive. I still have the cracked tooth. I never replaced it. Next question."
Jamil has often opened up in interviews about her severe phobia of bees — one that she says has caused several injuries throughout her life.
In an interview with Jimmy Fallon in January, she told the host "I got chased by bees, hit by a car in season one (of The Good Place)."
Shockingly, this wasn't actually the first time Jamil had been hit by a car while escaping a swarm of bees. An earlier incident happened when she was 17 years old and "ran into traffic" while being chased by a bee.
"I got hit by one car into another car and basically destroyed my back. I was in bed for about a year and in a wheelchair for about six months after that," she later told Cosmopolitan.
Jamil later recounted a yet another terrifying bee attack she suffered while interviewing producer Mark Ronson.
"Neither of us tried to save each other. It was every man for himself. It was like, 500 bees. It was horrible. I would never have left a man down, but we both turned into Usain Bolt then," she said, explaining that the pair had to run for their lives.
Asked about the "bee attack" after the interview was published, Ronson gave his side of the story. "The killer bee incident? I don't remember that ever happening. I think we were sitting outside and there was a fruit plate nearby, and maybe one or two individual bees approached slowly.
"Instead of running from a swarm of killer bees, we said 'Shall we go inside?' and we walked slowly inside," he explained.
Jamil today hit back at critics who questioned the veracity of her litany of bee attacks, writer Rich Juzwiak asking via Twitter: "You know that that bees don't actually do what you claim they've done to you, right?"
"Why is being chased by bees so unbelievable to you. Do you spend less time In greenery than me?" she responded.
Asked about Ronson's differing account of their bee swarm attack, Jamil wrote: "My version was true. I don't know why he said that. I asked him. Awaiting a response. Other people on set all saw it. It was mad. But naturally people believe a man over a woman. Just because. Pretty interesting."
Continuing her sleuthing Morrissey posted the results of searching the term "concussion" on Jamil's Twitter account, revealing several separate incidents in which Jamil said she had suffered a concussion:
Other alleged discrepancies include Jamil saying in an interview she's had a severe peanut allergy since birth – then recently posting pictures of herself enjoying peanut butter products.
"Mercury poisoning in my twenties. Had 11 fillings removed and my stomach lining was damaged for a decade. Got loads of weird food allergies that cleared up as I healed my gut," Jamil tweeted after the subject of her allergies was raised.
Jamil has today slammed Morrissey as an "unhinged idiot" and a "stalker" and claimed she's being targeted because of her "gender and skin colour".
"I've said my bit. I've explained and defended every single accusation in my various threads. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get on with a speech I'm writing for the UN. So have fun arguing about how many times YOU think I've run away from bees. Or if YOU think I had cancer!" Jamil wrote.
