The actress got defensive after Morrissey posted on social media stating that Jameela suffered from Munchausen syndrome. The disorder means a person fakes mental or physical illnesses for attention. Morrissey’s posts soon went viral. Jamil contacted her via Instagram's direct messages. Morrissey posted screenshots of the messages to her Pot Psychology Patreon account.
“This was really disturbing to see,” Jamil stated in the exchange. “I’m a real human being, and someone who has suffered extreme mental health issues, already being battered globally this week, and this… is how you use your time..?” Jamil then went on to refute claims made about her sexuality, mercury poisoning, and broken bones.
“You’re just trying to kick a woman when she’s down,” Jamil said. Jamil then took to Twitter to contact Morrissey and asked to speak to her by phone. Morrissey gave her phone number, but their conversation continued on social media instead. Morrissey exclusively told Page Six that she has no prior relationship with Jamil other than their banter and that she is certainly not a “stalker.”
“Jameela has been publicly calling me a stalker and calling me a stalker in her DMs, but she sent me unsolicited DMs on two different social media platforms over the course of two days,” Morrissey said via phone. “All I did was look at publicity interviews [she did on various occasions] from my kitchen [and piece them on a timeline].”
“The one thing that bothers me and sort of kicked all of this off, is she, starting back when she came out as queer last week, her coming out as queer she kind of blamed it on the press and said that they had misreported that she was the host of this show when literally that’s what appeared in the press release,” Morrissey said. “As an EP [executive producer] of the show, you would think she would look at the press release before it was sent out. She went after the press for misreporting it, but it’s literally their job to report facts and what’s true, and I find that offensive. And she’s continued to blame the press [for bad coverage].” Morrissey also said that “people have come out of the woodwork” to share their stories of Jamil with her, but she “has not repeated anything they’ve said.”
“The only thing I’ve done is posted screenshots and clips of things that she said in interviews and on her own social media,” Morrissey said. “They’re direct quotes. If she wants to call those lies, that’s really telling.” She also clarified that she never said Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is not a real disease as Jamil implied she did. Meanwhile, James Blake, Jamil’s boyfriend posted a defense for Jamil on his Twitter account.
“It’s pretty disgusting to watch the woman I love just be dog piled on every day for such ridiculous things,” Blake said. “She hasn’t sold dangerous products to kids. She hasn’t abused anyone. She hasn’t funded anything dangerous or brought any deliberate harm to any marginalized group…I am there for her swollen joints, her dislocations, her severe allergic reactions, her constant high fevers. I was there for her concussion, her 3 months of seizures when the doctor gave her the cancer diagnosis, and for all of her operations and their complications due to EDS.”
“I can feel the lumps in her back from the car accident and see all the scars…I actually live with her. Her being attractive, tall, and successful doesn’t mean she hasn’t been sick.” In a follow-up tweet, Blake said Morrissey’s decision to post Jamil’s private conversation to the pay-wall website Patreon was “profiting off exploiting and gaslighting a young woman of color with a chronic illness.” Despite the controversy, Morrissey said. “I actually really enjoyed ‘The Good Place’ and I think she’s funny.”
