• Celebrity
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Women in Music
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
  • Fashion
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion House
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Color Files Podcast
    • Nails
    • How-To
    • Beauty Carnival-Archive
    • Dope Stuff On My Desk
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weaves
    • 4C
    • Spring Hair And Beauty
  • Love
    • Love & Sex
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle News
    • Build Your Legacy
    • Coronavirus: Everything You Need to Know
    • Health & Wellness
    • Holiday Gift Guide 2020
    • Unbossed Podcast
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
    • Currency Conversations
  • News
    • Latest News
    • BLACK VOTES MATTER
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Videos
  • Events
    • WELLNESS HOUSE: YEAR OF RENEWAL
    • LEVEL UP: Entrepreneur Summit (DEC 2020)
    • Power Tools
    • SHE GOT NOW
    • Girls United Summit
    • Making Moves Now: Virtual Bootcamp
    • #EF SESSIONS
    • Dear Black Men
    • Cares Act
    • News & Announcements
  • Festival
  • Subscribe
  • Essence Studios
  • Girls United
  • NaturallyCurly
  • Shop Essence

Follow Us

Skip to content
  • Essence Studios
  • Girls United
  • NaturallyCurly
  • Shop Essence
  • Celebrity
    • Celebrity
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Women in Music
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
  • Fashion
    • Fashion
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion House
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Beauty
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Color Files Podcast
    • Nails
    • How-To
    • AVEENO® Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • Beauty Carnival-Archive
    • Dope Stuff On My Desk
  • Hair
    • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weaves
    • 4C
    • Spring Hair And Beauty
  • Love
    • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle News
    • Build Your Legacy
    • Coronavirus: Everything You Need to Know
    • Health & Wellness
    • Holiday Gift Guide 2020
    • Netflix’s Jingle Jangle Gift Guide
    • Unbossed Podcast
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
    • Currency Conversations
    • Your Legacy
  • News
    • News
    • Latest News
    • BLACK VOTES MATTER
    • Essence 50th Anniversary
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Videos
  • Events
    • Events
    • WELLNESS HOUSE: YEAR OF RENEWAL
    • LEVEL UP: Entrepreneur Summit (DEC 2020)
    • Power Tools
    • SHE GOT NOW
    • Girls United Summit
    • Making Moves Now: Virtual Bootcamp
    • #EF SESSIONS
    • Dear Black Men
    • Cares Act
    • News & Announcements
  • Festival
  • Subscribe
Laura Radford
Home · Entertainment

Michaela Coel Wants To Destroy Everything You Think You Know About Rape

By Demetria L. Lucas · June 8, 2020December 6, 2020
"It's an emotionally messy ride, but one well worth taking," says Demetria Lucas on the acclaimed British writer's new HBO drama.

I May Destroy You is the most difficult show I have ever watched.

If you’ve never experienced sexual assault—lucky you—Michaela Coel’s deep dive into the struggle of a woman who put herself back together after being violated is the most accurate depiction I’ve ever seen of what that feels like. Instinctively, without checking the writing credits, I knew whoever penned this story (that would be Coel, who also stars and executive produces) was a woman and, like me, a survivor of sexual assault. 

While writing Chewing Gum, the infectious British comedy (available on Netflix) that brought Coel to international acclaim, she was sexually assaulted. At the 2018 Edinburgh International Television Festival, she described her experience while delivering a keynote address: “I was working overnight in the company’s offices; I had an episode due at 7 am. I took a break and had a drink with a good friend, who was nearby. I emerged into consciousness typing season two, many hours later.”

Michaela Coel as “Arabella” (lefe) and Weruche Opia as “Terry” / Photo credit:  Laura Radford/HBO

Coel had a flashback and later discovered she had been physically violated by strangers. She utilized her horrifying experience as the inspiration for her latest series, which explores sexual assault—including the definitions (yes, plural) of rape—and so much more.

I May Destroy You follows a trio of twenty-something friends as they navigate sex and trauma, but also love, morality, consent, self-care, loyalty, forgiveness, self-esteem, social media, fame, and insecurity too. The childhood friends exist in a world where hook-up threesomes, cocaine, and urinating with the door open are both routine and mundane. There’s Arabella (Coel), a pink-haired, influencer-turned-author, who is vulnerable and insecure, but also righteous and adventurous and opinionated and gracious. Arabella is tragically human in her desire to be loved, to be heard, and to be seen. And so are her friends who round out the core cast: girl bestie Terry (Weruche Opia), an aspiring actress with stage fright, and their boy bestie Kwame (Paapa Essiedu), an openly gay fitness instructor with either sex addiction or commitment issues (maybe both?).

Loading the player...

The series is likely to be compared to Insecure because it centers the lives of young Black women and it shares the network with the hit show, or maybe even Girls, because of the unique angst that comes with finding yourself in a concrete urban environment. Some might even liken it to She’s Gotta Have It for its Black Millennial exploration of sex and relationships. And while there are elements of all three shows, I May Destroy You stands apart—not better, not worse. Just different. Wonderfully, even if uncomfortably so, especially given Coel’s tendency to linger on the trauma of violence when other auteurs would turn away.  (It’s an observation made about British director Steve McQueen as well.)  

Michaela Coel as “Arabella” / Photo credit: Laura Radford/HBO

It’s a Black experience, but not the one Americans are accustomed to. I May Destroy You is Black, British, and reflective of Coel’s upbringing by Ghanaian parents in the U.K. “Arabella” and her all-Black circle of friends are bonded as much by race as by the unique shared experience of being first-generation descendants of West African immigrants. The culture is different, which makes the slang and humor different. I enjoyed Coel’s series immensely, but I know I missed a layer or two of insight being American. I probably would have liked it even more if I were British or had West African parents. 

While the cultural nuances make the series more unique, the way Coel captures humanity makes the story intimately familiar no matter where you call home. She and her friends feel like people you know, or want to know. They are characters you laugh with and cringe and cry for when they release the worst of themselves on others, or when life unleashes on them. It’s a hard watch, and at times you’ll want to turn away. That’s okay. Push Pause. Come back to it. It’s an emotionally messy ride, but one well worth taking.

Demetria Lucas (@demetriallucas) podcasts about pop culture and TV/film on Ratchet & Respectable. New episodes every Thursday. 

Share :
TOPICS:  Entertainment TV essence i may destroy you Michaela Coel photoshoot sexual assault sexual assault survivors Yoga
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2021 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now