Photos by: Timothy Fernandez
From reality TV fame to his unexpected love of BookTok, Jeremiah Brown opens up to SWAGGER about life after the villa, finding joy through therapy and what is next to come.
More than a year after appearing on Love Island USA, Jeremiah Brown admits he knew very little about the show before joining it. He was modelling in Los Angeles when producers first approached him, but was in a relationship and declined. When they contacted him again following a breakup, he decided to ask his three sisters, who were already fans, what they thought. “They started, like, literally freaking out,” he tells SWAGGER, recalling the voice messages that followed. Brown had only caught glimpses of the series while his sisters watched, but the prospect of visiting Fiji and trying something different was enough to convince him.
After three weeks in the villa, Brown was eliminated, but he still had no idea what viewers thought of him. He spent several more days at a hotel in Fiji without access to his phone, unable to see how audiences were reacting or how he’d been portrayed on television.
“They could make the angel look evil and the evil person look amazing,” he explains. “I was really just praying every night that people got to see me for who I am.”
When Brown finally got his phone back, the response was unlike anything he’d expected. “I had no idea the gravity of the show,” Brown admits. Fans were already stopping him for photos at the airport in Fiji, and that didn’t change when he returned home.
Even shopping with his sisters meant stopping to meet fans along the way. Brown says he can count on both hands the number of times he’s turned down a picture. “Being able to just make someone smile or make their day with just a photo means everything to me,” he says.
When the conversation turns to his family, Brown remembers calling his parents after leaving the villa. “The first thing my dad said was, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ And I started crying,” he recalls. His family’s support has always meant a great deal to him, and being able to give back to the people closest to him has become one of the most rewarding parts of his success.
Professionally, Brown has continued modelling, auditioned for acting roles and developed a growing interest in television and red carpet hosting. He’s also been streaming on Twitch, where he enjoys the freedom of interacting with viewers without a television edit. During Stream University, he spent approximately 112 hours live over five days, something he particularly appreciated after feeling that Love Island: Beyond the Villa hadn’t always represented him accurately. “This is me tired. This is me happy. This is me cranky. This is me hungry,” Brown explains of the livestream. “You can’t stop or cut out an interaction.”
While streaming is a newer pursuit, Brown’s love of reading dates back much further. During the pandemic, unhappy with how he felt day to day, he gravitated toward personal development. Ryan Holiday’s books and Stoicism, an ancient philosophy focused on what you can control, caught his attention. Brown was interested in more than just reading about these ideas. He wanted to apply them to his own life, and eventually began bringing what he’d learned into therapy.
His earlier experiences with therapy hadn’t been particularly positive. Growing up, he’d attended sessions after getting into trouble at school, “just a little bit of trouble,” he jokes. He hated going, convinced it meant something was wrong with him.
When Brown returned to therapy in September 2023, his perspective had changed. He and his therapist began reading and discussing books together, exploring how those ideas related to his own experiences. “The books and therapy literally changed my life,” he says. “It gave me a whole new perspective on life.”
Brown recalls noticing a change in himself during his walks to the gym. He used to catch himself staring at the ground, but as he continued reading and working on himself through therapy, he gradually began walking with his head held higher. “It’s little things like that you think don’t mean much, mean everything,” he explains. Brown credits books and therapy with helping him through periods of depression and anger. “My baseline became joy instead of just meh.” It’s a subject he wants more men, particularly young Black men, to feel comfortable discussing. He knows firsthand how easily therapy can be mistaken for an admission that something is wrong.
His enthusiasm for reading has since found a much larger audience. Before Love Island, Brown had just 44 followers on TikTok and around 10 videos, roughly half of them book reviews. He hadn’t even heard of BookTok. “I didn’t know people even still read,” he admits.
When fans began asking for more book recommendations, someone suggested he start a club during one of his first livestreams. Brown loved the idea and began putting it together on a flight a few days later. Jeremiah’s Reading Room now focuses primarily on fiction, with members voting on which titles to read next.
When I ask which book has had the greatest impact on him, Brown has trouble choosing. “That’s a hard question, bro. Okay, I have three. Actually, I have, five,” he says, eventually settling on The Four Agreements and When Things Fall Apart. He’s equally enthusiastic about fiction, recommending Fourth Wing, which he considers one of his top three fiction reads. When I mention The Alchemist, Brown admits it’s been sitting in his shopping cart for about five years. I tell him it’s time to finally read it.
Brown used to feel the need to correct every rumour or negative comment about himself online. These days, he’s less interested in trying to convince strangers they’ve got him wrong. “I kind of just am who I am, represent myself the best in the way I know how to be and let people interpret it from there,” Brown says. “If you rock with me, awesome. I love you. If you don’t, awesome, I love you as well.”
Looking ahead, Brown hopes to pursue more hosting opportunities, whether on television, the red carpet or through interviews. He’s already reached many of the goals he had when he first moved to Los Angeles to model, and he’s still deciding where to take things next.
For now, Brown is focused on enjoying the work itself, not just the milestones. “You have to love what you do every day, like not just the highlights you see on social media,” he says. “You have to love going to the gym, getting a coffee, just like brushing your teeth, like the little things.”
For more from Jeremiah Brown, follow him on Instagram and TikTok, join Jeremiah’s Reading Room, and catch his livestreams on Twitch. You can also find him on YouTube.
