Jameela Jamil is an actress known for her role on The Good Place. In 2019, she opened up about her former eating disorder to several news outlets. 

To practice our interviewing skills for our future podcast, we are going to analyse this article from People Magazine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/celebrity/jameela-jamil-says-her-loneliness-as-a-teen-contributed-to-her-eating-disorder-i-had-no-one-to-turn-to/ar-AAFbzg3

We’ll start by identifying direct and indirect quotes, to help us figure out what questions were asked during this interview. 

Here is a list we compiled of direct and indirect quotations:

Direct:

“I was really unhappy and I think it contributed to my ability to have an eating disorder for so long, because there was no one kind of monitoring me and I had no one to turn to with my sadness and bad feelings, so I just had a really rough time as a teenager”

“I’ve had lots of experiences with loneliness myself, and I wish that I had an app like this when I was a teenager, so that I could have met other people who were also looking for friendship and companionship.”

“I’m socially awkward, and there was no set up to help socially awkward people admit they were socially awkward and that they needed a little bit of a boost to find friends. And I love the idea of de-stigmatizing the feeling of loneliness. Everyone gets lonely from time to time.”

“I’ve learned how to suck it up and make an effort and put myself on the line and ask people out for coffee, I’ve even officially asked people to be friends, just to make sure that everyone’s in agreement that there’s some sort of friendship forming. I started doing more things that I love and meeting more people via that, and I’ve found more people who had the same interests.”

“A friend is a witness to your life, which I think is something really beautiful and amazing and really shapes your bond with someone,” she says. “We go through a lot as a woman or just generally as a human and having someone to share that with and having someone in your corner and tells you that you’re wrong when you doubt yourself is so unbelievable. I don’t think I would be the person that I am without my adult friendships and their love and support.”

“The only time I look in the mirror is when I put on my eyeliner in the morning and when I take it off at night,” she says. “I’m not interested in my appearance. I still suffer from body dysmorphia so it can be very distracting for me. Doing that has helped me concentrate on progressing and doing things that enrich my life, like watching my career grow and my relationships grow. that’s what gives me a wonderful sense of self.”

Indirect:

The Good Place star, 33, believes that her loneliness at the time made her you disorder more severe.

Says that she eventually learned how to make friends, but it required breaking out of her shell.

Jamil says that her adult friendships have been vital to her confidence as she navigates Hollywood.

She says she makes I Weigh pages in her spare time.

Next up, we generated some questions that might have been asked by the interviewer to generate the responses that Jameel gave.

1. What was so difficult about that phase in your life that led to your eating disorder? 
2. Many teens struggle with depression and isolation due to social media. Do you think if you were using social media at that time, would that have helped you, Or made things worse? 
3. What was so troubling about making friends? Was it hard for you to communicate with your peers at school? Did you like being alone? 
4. What have you learned about your past. How did you manage to overcome your nerves when talking to people? 
5. What is the importance of having a friend for support during a rough time?

Finally, If we were given the chance to interview Jameel as a follow up on this article, here are a few questions we would ask her:

1. I might not understand, but if you need someone to talk to, I will help as much as I can. Have you thought about regret. What do you feel when you think about the word regret.
2. You said “I’ve had lots  of experience with loneliness myself”. How do you think your loneliness had a part in leading you to an eating disorder 
3. You mentioned that you have confidence, where does your confidence come from?
4. Don’t look at yourself like you see it in the mirror, look at the way when people tell you you’re beautiful. Why don’t you think of it like that, Jameel?
5.  What makes you so self-conscious about your body? Were you aware of your disorder or did you choose to ignore it?

That’s everything for today! Comment If you guys are fans of The Good Place, and stay tuned for the premiere of our podcast, The Karbdashians.