Lena Dunham is getting real about her decision to step back from pursuing acting roles.
“Having my body dissected was a reason that I chose in general to step back from acting a little bit more and focus on my writing and my directing,” Dunham, 39, told The Independent in a profile published on Saturday, July 5. “And also just make different kinds of choices as an actor.”
Dunham created and starred on HBO’s Girls from 2012 to 2017, at a time when her body and overall physical appearance were heavily criticized. Despite the backlash, Dunham always remained a fierce body-positive advocate.
“I always shudder to make big statements, but I have to say, the past two years haven’t just been the happiest years of my adult life, they’ve been the happiest years of my life,” Dunham exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2019. “And that’s not because they’ve been perfect. It’s because I now have the tools based on what I’ve been through — whether it’s losing my health or ending a long relationship, or, you know, challenges with addiction.”
According to Dunham, managing her various challenges made her stronger in the long run.
“Learning that they don’t define me and that I actually have the tools to live a life of relative freedom has made me so much more confident, grounded, present,” she told Us. “It’s not that issues don’t come up, it’s that I have the tools to manage those issues, and that’s really what I wish for every woman. The reason I’ve been so insistent on sharing my experiences, I think, [is that] we have to be reminded again and again and again that we’re not alone.”
Dunham recently used her entire life as inspiration for Netflix’s Too Much, which is loosely based on her early courtship with husband Luis Felber. In addition to writing the scripts, Dunham was initially attached to star in the project.
“I was not willing to have another experience like what I’d experienced around Girls at this point in my life,” she wrote in a New Yorker essay published in July 2024. “Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again. It was a hard choice.”
Dunham ultimately cast Hacks breakout Megan Stalter in the lead role.
“Megan is so smart and so internet-literate,” Dunham told The Independent, speculating how the 34-year-old star would handle potential body-shaming criticism when Too Much hits Netflix. “I don’t use Instagram — I write the captions, but somebody else posts them — so I’m not receiving all this online feedback. She’s so culturally alert and online that I feel like she knows what the world is offering. And what I love about her is she has such a funny, bright, ballsy way of taking it all in stride.”
Too Much premieres Thursday, July 10 on Netflix.
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