Lena Dunham is getting actual about her choice to step again from pursuing appearing roles.
“Having my physique dissected was a cause that I selected generally to step again from appearing just a little bit extra and deal with my writing and my directing,” Dunham, 39, advised The Impartial in a profile printed on Saturday, July 5. “And likewise simply make completely different sorts of decisions as an actor.”
Dunham created and starred on HBO’s Women from 2012 to 2017, at a time when her physique and general bodily look had been closely criticized. Regardless of the backlash, Dunham at all times remained a fierce body-positive advocate.
“I at all times shudder to make massive statements, however I’ve to say, the previous two years haven’t simply been the happiest years of my grownup life, they’ve been the happiest years of my life,” Dunham solely advised Us Weekly in November 2019. “And that’s not as a result of they’ve been good. It’s as a result of I now have the instruments primarily based on what I’ve been via — whether or not it’s dropping my well being or ending an extended relationship, or, , challenges with habit.”
In keeping with Dunham, managing her varied challenges made her stronger in the long term.
“Studying that they don’t outline me and that I even have the instruments to dwell a lifetime of relative freedom has made me a lot extra assured, grounded, current,” she advised Us. “It’s not that points don’t come up, it’s that I’ve the instruments to handle these points, and that’s actually what I want for each lady. The explanation I’ve been so insistent on sharing my experiences, I feel, [is that] now we have to be reminded time and again and once more that we’re not alone.”
Dunham not too long ago used her complete life as inspiration for Netflix’s Too A lot, which is loosely primarily based on her early courtship with husband Luis Felber. Along with writing the scripts, Dunham was initially connected to star within the mission.
“I used to be not keen to have one other expertise like what I’d skilled round Women at this level in my life,” she wrote in a New Yorker essay printed in July 2024. “Bodily, I used to be simply not up for having my physique dissected once more. It was a tough selection.”
Dunham finally forged Hacks breakout Megan Stalter within the lead function.
“Megan is so good and so internet-literate,” Dunham advised The Impartial, speculating how the 34-year-old star would deal with potential body-shaming criticism when Too A lot hits Netflix. “I don’t use Instagram — I write the captions, however someone else posts them — so I’m not receiving all this on-line suggestions. She’s so culturally alert and on-line that I really feel like she is aware of what the world is providing. And what I like about her is she has such a humorous, vibrant, ballsy manner of taking all of it in stride.”
Too A lot premieres Thursday, July 10 on Netflix.
