Jameela Jamil defends calling Blake Lively a “villain”, says she’s still a feminist

Jameela Jamil defends calling Blake Lively a “villain”, says she’s still a feminist

Jameela Jamil has reiterated her feminist stance following criticisms for text messages she reportedly sent about Blake Lively in 2024.

Lively is suing her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation, with the trial set for May. She filed the suit in December 2024, and Baldoni denied the claims, countersuing Lively, husband Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane for $400million (£295million), with claims that Lively tried to extort him. However, this was dismissed in June 2025.

Lively, meanwhile, has claimed that she has suffered $161million (£122.30million) in actual damages from the smear campaign around It Ends With Us.

Court documents have revealed Lively’s alleged text conversations with Taylor Swift and emails to Ben Affleck, as well as messages from Sony Pictures bosses and statements made by fellow co-stars Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer.

Also part of the documents is an August 2024 text exchange seemingly between Jamil and her publicist, Jennifer Abel, who also represented Baldoni. In the conversation, they were responding to a TikTok video describing Lively’s comments during the It Ends With Us press tour as not being serious enough – particularly as the film has a strong focus on domestic violence and emotional abuse.

Jamil texted about Lively, “She’s a suicide bomber at this point,” also adding: “I’ve never seen such a bizarre villain act before”.

After her alleged text comments on Lively made headlines, Jamil took to Instagram Stories to share a video explaining that she views being a feminist and having personal differences with other women as being compatible. Though her video did not specifically mention Lively or the wider situation, it came after news coverage of the comments.

“Guys, feminism means fighting for the political, social and economic equity for women,” said Jamil, who is known for her feminist views and activism. “Just gender equity. It does not mean you have to like every single woman. It doesn’t mean you have to be friends with every single woman. It means you can actually beef with other women. You can criticise them. You can do whatever you want, as long as you are also fighting for their human right to the same things that men have in this world.”

She added: “That’s all feminism is. It’s a moral and political stance. It is not a sleepover where we braid each other’s pubes, OK? So if you are fighting for women’s rights, but you don’t get along with every single woman, it doesn’t make you a bad feminist.”

Among the other texts within the court documents, meanwhile, Swift allegedly called Baldoni a “bitch”. In messages said to be between Swift and Lively, appearing to discuss Baldoni, the former reportedly wrote: “I think this bitch knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin”.

The post Jameela Jamil defends calling Blake Lively a “villain”, says she’s still a feminist appeared first on NME.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Previous post “I said, ‘There are no vocals. It’s an instrumental album.’ The lawyer said, ‘Do you mean we’ve just paid $12,000 for a piano player?’” Rick Wakeman relives the moment he delivered The Six Wives Of Henry VIII to a horrified record label
Next post Holly Humberstone announces new album ‘Cruel World’ with confessional single ‘To Love Somebody’: “In order to feel extreme happiness, you have to know extreme sadness”

Goto Top