My Big Millennial Burnout
Cosmopolitan - South Africa|Jan/Feb 2019

At just 26, Poppy Jamie had it all: a flourishing fashion business, her own Snapchat show and a glittering, celebrity-packed social life split over two continents. But what happened when it all came crashing down?

Jennifer Savin
My Big Millennial Burnout

It was early February last year, and the photographer’s camera clicked in the background as a makeup artist dusted fine powder over my forehead. That day, of all days, I should have felt excited, pinch-me-pleased and bursting with energy, but instead my stomach was weaving itself into a bundle of macramé knots. I was on set with my best friend – who just so happens to be actress and model Suki Waterhouse. We’d first met in a nightclub and, six years on, had launched our own accessories label, Pop & Suki. We were filming a promotional video that day, but as the bags shone bright in candy colours under the studio lights, inside, I felt darker than ever.

On the surface (and if you were judging by my social-media accounts), I had it all: my own fashion brand loved by the likes of Lady Gaga and Jessica Alba, a hugely popular Snapchat show, Pillow Talk With Poppy, and a successful presenting career that I’d been pouring my blood, sweat, soul and tears into since the age of 19. I was known for my positive and upbeat interviews with celebrities on MTV, and attended red-carpet events in both London and LA, the two gorgeous, demanding cities that I split my time between – ones that as a schoolgirl growing up in Leamington Spa I could only pray I’d visit one day, never mind live in. But on that afternoon, when I should have been flying high, none of that mattered. Physically, emotionally and mentally, I was nothing short of empty. Suddenly the tears came thick and fast.

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