Mia Freedman Says She’s Learned A “Searing Lesson” From This Roxane Gay Mess

After 24 hours of intense criticism over her interview with feminist author Roxane Gay (and a disappointing apology from Mamamia), Mia Freedman has broken her silence. Freedman has published an open personal apology to Gay in which she says she’s learned “an extraordinarily searing lesson” and is “unconditionally sorry”.

“I should never have been so cavalier in revealing details about my interview with Roxane Gay that should have remained private. I understand that now,” Freedman writes. “I made many mistakes. The first and worst was not understanding the difference between Roxane writing in her book, Hunger, about her experiences and difficulties of trying to navigate the world and me talking about that experience from the outside, from my perspective.”

Stating this was “not [her] story to tell”, Freedman says her actions were “disrespectful”. She also expressed disappointment in herself for perpetuating body shaming. Freedman sees herself as an advocate for diverse body shapes, and has previously been celebrated for sharing pictures of her tummy rolls.

For those catching up, the controversy around Freedman’s interview was not just in the sharing of personal details. Some of those details — that Gay was concerned about fitting into an office lift, or walking the necessary steps to the interview — were reportedly not true at all. She also rejected calling Gay by her chosen descriptor, “fat”, instead opting for “super morbidly obese”.

Timely fucking reminder that Mia Freedman is the chair of the National Body Image Advisory Group.

— karaVAGgio (@karaschlegl) June 13, 2017

Freedman said she is “beyond mortified, horrified and ashamed”, and never wanted Gay to feel anything other than “fierce, brilliant and beautiful”.

This apology comes after a post that displayed significantly less culpability from Mamamia (with no byline) last night.

“As a publisher that’s consistently championed body diversity and representation in the media, we believe the conversations sparked by Roxane’s book are vitally important for women, and are disappointed our execution of this story hasn’t contributed in the way we intended,” it read.

“We felt that [the behind-the-scenes details of Gay’s interview] was an important issue that was integral to understanding Roxane’s point of view in the world and helping people learn about and empathise with a perspective they may never have considered – just as she writes in her book.”

A lot of "I" in Mia Freedman's article / podcast with Roxane Gay, and a lot of "we" in the apology.

— brad esposito (@braddybb) June 13, 2017

Freedman’s subsequent comments considerably walk this viewpoint back, which is a good thing. It’s nice to think that this — as painful as it is — has been a moment that could affect change in the way such things are talked about in the future. Though, it definitely would have been a lot more convincing if it hadn’t been preceded by an ineffectual and widely ridiculed first attempt.

Writing for RendezView this morning, Brodie Lancaster argued the first apology “shows just how far [Freedman] is from seeing fat people as worthy of humanity and respect and not just an inconvenient vehicle for a thin woman’s realisation”.

Though Freedman has now personally apologised, I wonder what consolation her “extraordinarily searing lesson” will be for Roxane Gay.

Today was supposed to be about my new book. That is what I wanted. And then an Australian website made today painful.

— roxane gay (@rgay) June 14, 2017

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Roxane Gay’s new book Hunger is out now.