Jodie Comer Talks Personal Privacy in Porter Edit Nov. 16, 2020 by Juliette Cassidy
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British actor Jodie Comer covers the Nov. 16th, 2020 issue of Porter Edit, styled by Helen Broadfoot in Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Joseph, Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini; Prada, Saint Laurent and more. London photographer Juliette Cassidy (IG) captures the ‘Killing Eve’ star in ‘Moment of Truth’.
Katie Berrington conducts the Comer interview, bundled up under cold-weather blankets on the rooftop of a London hotel. The star talks the usual shop reflections with Berrington. But she has choice words for us all about containing the impact of social media in her head and life overall. They should resonate deeply with all of us.
In my head, it was like there was a line of people outside my front door who had nasty things to say to me, and I was saying, ‘Come on in! Please sit on my couch; tell me.’ When I realized that was what I was doing, I knew I just had to stop and I haven’t done it since. It’s like, I don’t want these people in my house, I don’t want them in my head.”
Jodie Comer’s full statement to Porter Edit about social media:
The talk turns to privacy and Comer’s light-hearted, buoyant lilt becomes serious. With her rising public profile has come an intensifying interest in her private life, despite her making every effort to keep it from the glare of the spotlight. “Within the past month, I feel like I’ve sussed it out. It took a while, but it got to a point where I noticed it was affecting my health,” she says, referring to how her perspective and use of social media has changed. “I think you forget how accessible we are when we have mobile phones. In my head, it was like there was a line of people outside my front door who had nasty things to say to me, and I was saying, ‘Come on in! Please sit on my couch; tell me.’ When I realized that was what I was doing, I knew I just had to stop and I haven’t done it since. It’s like, I don’t want these people in my house, I don’t want them in my head.”
The turning point came from a particularly upsetting recent intrusion, when the identity of her boyfriend was revealed in the media. “All this false information came out about him, and people just ridiculed him and me and my family. People took these tweets as truth. That was the biggest time my life has been kind of blown up and publicized in that way,” she says. “A lot of people read things and they go, ‘Wow, she’s that, she’s this type of person.’ And I’m like, OK, I can spend my life and my energy trying to convince people otherwise, or I can go, ‘I know who I am, I know my truth and that’s good enough for me.’”
