Tonight, Jameela Jamil steps onto an Australian stage to kick off her highly anticipated speaking tour – and if her Substack, podcast, or social media presence is anything to go by, she won’t be holding back.
The actor, writer, and unapologetic activist has built a reputation not just on her breakout role in The Good Place, but on her ability to speak openly – often hilariously – about the parts of life most of us would rather keep hidden. And at the top of that list? Failure.
“I am something of a failure pervert,” Jamil recently wrote in her Substack A Low Desire To Please. “I love the stuff. Can’t get enough of it.” She goes on to call failure the place “where the real nuts and bolts of your character are fastened.”
If you’re imagining this as some Instagram-quote version of failure, think again. Jamil doesn’t traffic in inspirational fluff. She details her missteps with such brutal (and absurd) honesty that it’s hard not to laugh, cringe, and feel deeply seen all at once.
“I in fact, fuck things up all the time,” she continues in the post. “I say the (very) wrong thing, at the (very) wrong time… I’ve lost all my money twice… One time I had to shit on the street in broad daylight… I didn’t even manage to successfully kill myself both of the times I really, really tried.”
Her message? Survival, self-worth, and speaking out anyway.
What She’ll Be Talking About on Tour
Jamil’s Australian tour promises to be a live extension of that approach. Across three evenings of conversation and reflection in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, she’ll be exploring the themes that have defined both her work and her worldview: authenticity, kindness, mental health, and the complicated reality of being in the public eye.
“I could not be more excited to have candid, bold and rebellious conversations,” she said. “I have always felt drawn to the culture, humour and tenacity of Aussies, and look forward to some spirited discussions.”
Expect stories that span her own mental health battles, missteps in activism, and the deeply personal work she’s done to turn shame into service. Since founding the I Weigh movement in 2018, Jamil has worked to create inclusive dialogue around mental health, body image, and representation. It’s now re-emerged as Move For Your Mind, a project aiming to dismantle toxic fitness culture and prioritise mental wellbeing.
Radical Honesty and the Audacity of Self-Esteem
True to form, Jamil doesn’t just talk about self-love in theory – she insists on self-acceptance in the aftermath of chaos.
“I have made flop television,” she writes. “I have written misogynist, slut shaming blogs… I have offended literally millions of people… I’m a mess. And yet here I am, somehow, still bursting at the seams with self-esteem.”
Her tour will be a living, breathing conversation with someone who’s failed bigger, louder, and more publicly than most, and still insists on showing up. Because, as Jamil herself put it: “Imagine being the person to nearly kill Mary Berry.”
Tour begins April 26. To book tickets, go to fane.com.au
