On the surface, Jean Campbell appears like any other supermodel – a natural, other-worldly beauty who rocks up in a vintage biker jacket, Converse baseball boots and an over-sized white shirt cinched with an Alaïa belt. Scratch the surface, however, and it’s clear that Campbell has endured more hardship in her 27 years than many people do in a lifetime.
After a skiing accident that saw a man collide with her at such high speed that she was catapulted 10 metres into the air, Campbell has been living with chronic pain since she was 12. Hours of surgery ensued, as muscles, tendons and ligaments were reattached. ‘I had my pelvis broken in six places and put back together,’ she says. ‘I found it really, really difficult. And I didn’t have the tools to deal with that.’
Campbell neither invites sympathy nor expects it, and speaks pragmatically about her experience. At 15, she was diagnosed with hip dysplasia; at 16, she could barely walk. That she endured a series of surgeries – spending two months in a wheelchair and six months on crutches – while trying to build a modelling career is testament to her resilience. In-between physiotherapy and studying for A-levels, she managed to work for Burberry and Louis Vuitton.
While she’s grateful for her modelling career, she’s also full of quiet pride about her latest project: a new podcast, I’m Fine, its purpose to discuss pain and offer help for those suffering, equipping listeners with the coping mechanisms that she herself lacked. ‘It’s about creating a community that’s compassionate, relatable and offers hope,’ she says. ‘The loneliness I felt going through that experience in my teens and twenties has ended up being a gift that I wanted to use, to share and democratise all the things I’ve learned, and put them at the service of others. Pain is an almost taboo subject. The idea of a podcast about it might sound a bit gloomy, but the stories and expertise shared are those of inspiration and hope.’
She strongly believes that hopelessness can be a barrier towards healing, and that talking is an important part of the process. ‘For myself, getting honest about how I really felt was so difficult,’ she recalls. ‘It’s exposing. You don’t know how people are going to react. It’s scary to be vulnerable – you don’t know if it’s OK not to be OK.’
Since the podcast launched in June, she’s spoken to an eclectic mix of guests who’ve either experienced chronic pain or are experts in their field, including ballerina Francesca Hayward, model Penelope Tree and influencer Camille Charrière. ‘I’ve been blown away by the response from people saying that I’m Fine has helped them,’ she smiles. ‘It’s currently being listened to in 82 different countries, which is astonishing.’
Was it hard to convince people to talk about their pain? ‘Actually, no,’ she laughs. ‘Anyone who’s on the podcast wants to help. I’m fortunate to have my career as a model and that it’s given me the platform to reach lots of people. If I didn’t have that network, maybe it would have been harder to do.’
Much as she loves modelling, she’s candid about its pressures. Last March, she posted on Instagram about how worthless she’d felt after a luxury brand cancelled her from a job because they deemed her ‘too big’. ‘At the time, it made me feel pretty worthless,’ she wrote. ‘Today, I know how unhealthy and dysfunctional that is. It can be intense to have so much depend on how you look. How you look doesn’t equate to how you feel, and how I felt has been the thing that’s been hardest at times, because there is a level of scrutiny that comes with modelling,’ she says. ‘I started super-young, at 16. I didn’t have the perspective I have today and, like a lot of teenagers, I didn’t have such a sense of self-worth. In our culture, there is a fixation on the way you look. That’s not to say it’s bad to want to look good – we all want to. But what I’ve learned is that you can’t change how you feel with external things. It has to come from inside.’
She most recently walked for Patou in Paris, and attended the Balenciaga show as a guest, as well as the Dior Cruise show in Perthshire. Does she choose her jobs more carefully now? ‘I think it comes down to time management, and working with people I know and love, and whose vision I find inspiring.’ Her closest fashion industry friend is Adwoa Aboah. ‘I absolutely love her. She’s an amazing friend, and I have so much respect and admiration for what she’s done with Gurls Talk. She’s been a pioneer of bringing awareness to mental health.’
Campbell is shaping up to be no slouch in that department herself. She plans to cover topics such as fibromyalgia, medical gas-lighting and endometriosis in forthcoming episodes of I’m Fine. Is she herself fine? How would she describe her pain now? ‘There is a long-lasting nature to my pain, but there was a time where it was debilitating. Now, my pain is still present in my life, but it isn’t at the epicentre. The things I do to manage it are at the epicentre.’
Such as? ‘Breathwork, meditation, low-intensity exercise and mindfulness. I try to take care of my body, because sleep and stress affect it. Your pain receptors are in your brain, so your experience of pain is governed by your nervous system. If I’m going through something emotional or not getting enough rest, it will be more painful. It’s ever changing. There are still days where it’s harder to live with, but most of the time, having gone from a place where I couldn’t walk and wasn’t connected to my body at all, I’m now in a place where it’s like a light jacket. It’s part of my life, I respect it, and I never take for granted the things I can do.’
When I ask what advice she’d give to those currently suffering from pain, she considers the question carefully before answering. ‘Be gentle with yourself. If you can find it in yourself to talk to someone about it, do. That can be anyone – a friend, your doctor, parents, a partner. So many people struggle in isolation. You are not alone. It’s OK to not know how to cope, and it’s OK to be upset or angry. You have everything you need to get through it inside of you. But give yourself grace.’
I'm Fine is available to listen to now on Apple.
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