Jameela Jamil ‘genuinely considered suicide’ after Piers Morgan published Caroline Flack DMs

‘I had 10 months of people calling me a murderer in my DMs’

‘I got held responsible by the entire media for the death of Caroline Flack’ (Getty Images)

Jameela Jamil has said she considered suicide after Piers Morgan published DMs about her from Caroline Flack.

Following Flack’s death in February, Morgan shared a message he received from the Love Island host in which she referenced the “hate” she suffered from Jamil.

The Good Morning Britain host wrote: “Jameela Jamil is having a lot to say about online harassment, so in the interests of balance, here is a message Caroline Flack sent me last October after the same Jameela Jamil led an online pile-on against her regarding a new TV show she was doing.”

The screenshot read: “Please have pictures…I’m struggling with Jameela. The hate she aims at me.”

Prior to this, Jamil had criticised the concept of The Surjury, a cosmetic-surgery themed reality show that Flack had been set to host on Channel 4.

In response to Morgan’s tweet, Jamil called Morgan a “bullying parasite”,  writing: “I simply said I found the show Surjury (not her) problematic for kids to watch.”

In the latest episode of Angela Scanlon’s podcast Thanks A Million, The Good Place actor said that Morgan’s tweet resulted in her being blamed for Flack’s death and that she herself considered suicide as a result.

“February is my big thank you, next, where Piers Morgan and his fans and the world just set up camp inside my a**ehole, tried to burn me alive, where like, my sexuality, my mental health was called into question,” she said.

Caroline Flack, who died by suicide in February 2020 (AFP via Getty Images)

“People said I had Munchausen’s [a psychological disorder where someone repeatedly pretends to be ill], that I lied about f***ing cancer – like who’s ever gotten a job from saying I’ve had cancer or I have health problems?”

The Los Angeles resident insisted that she and Flack “were on good terms” and that she “loved her”.

“We had one disagreement year before she died about Love Island needing some more diversity, which wasn’t even directed at her, directed at the show. I didn’t hold her responsible for that. She’s a f***ing host.

“We were friends and I got held responsible by the entire media for her death, which I had nothing to do with. I had 10 months of people calling me a murderer in my DMs,” she said.

As a consequence, Jamil said she didn’t “want to be here”.

“I genuinely considered suicide in February, because of Piers Morgan and a woman, I don’t remember her name, but like the two of them, what they constructed against me and how the world responded, how much people enjoyed it, like a sport just made me think, God, this world is a bit too ugly for me,” she said.  

“I think, how much we want to destroy someone who’s clearly just trying to help. You’re clearly not trying to hurt anyone, clearly just trying to help some people. She might not be perfectly educated or perfect, but I thought, oh, this is just, God, I don’t want to bring kids into this world if I don’t want to be here. People are ugly.”

She added: “But I managed to come through the other side of it.”

When contacted by The Independent, Morgan said: “‘I’d love to respond to Ms Jamil’s latest outpouring of self-pitying, hypocritical victimhood – but sadly I just don’t have the strength. Merry Christmas.”

You can find helpful tips on how to start a conversation, or if you are worried about someone else, on Samaritans website.

You can contact the Samaritans helpline by calling 116 123. The helpline is free and open 24 hours a day every day of the year.

You can also contact Samaritans by emailing jo@samaritans.org. The average response time is 24 hours.