Jameela Jamil is pushing back after private text messages in which she criticized Blake Lively were unsealed in the legal dispute between Lively and her "It Ends With Us" co-star and director, Justin Baldoni.
The messages, revealed in court filings, show Jamil referring to Lively as a "suicide bomber" and a "villain" in an August 2024 exchange with publicist Jennifer Abel, who represented both Jamil and Baldoni at the time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The texts were sent in response to a TikTok video criticizing Lively's interviews during the film's press tour, with online commenters arguing that the tone of the promotion did not reflect the movie's focus on domestic abuse.
After the messages became public, Jamil addressed the backlash in videos posted to Instagram and TikTok.
She said the texts were unrelated to the lawsuit and emphasized their timing for context.
"I am ready to say some things, mostly to clarify timing 'cause timing is key for context," she said. "I think it's really weird that my private text messages from 18 months ago have suddenly been released now. My name has deliberately been unredacted to cause as much trouble as possible for me even though these text messages have nothing to do with the case."
Lively filed her complaint against Baldoni in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and accusing Baldoni and others of conducting a "social manipulation" campaign to damage her reputation.
Baldoni denied the claims, calling them "shameful" and "serious and categorically false accusations."
He later filed a countersuit that was dismissed in June. A trial is scheduled for May 18.
Jamil said her comments were made months before the lawsuit was filed.
"Check the dates," she said. "There were four months between when I was saying those things and a lawsuit coming to light. I had no idea about any of this stuff, so I was just purely venting to my friend about how I felt about the press rollout for that f*cking terrible movie."
She said her reaction was shaped by her own experience with domestic violence.
"I grew up with domestic violence in my home, I was a victim of domestic violence in my 20s. It made me feel some type of way," she said, adding that the interview responses struck her as dismissive, given the film's subject matter.
Jamil also explained her use of the term "suicide bomber."
"Me calling her a 'suicide bomber' is just a reference to me watching someone use their own terrible answers in interviews to blow up their own career or their own project," she said. "I found that both funny and very agitating. And I'm just kidding around in private text messages."
She added that the release of the messages felt targeted.
"The fact that my name was unredacted, all of it, just felt very targeted and very weird and an attempt to throw me under the bus," she said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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