Lena Dunham talks body-shaming, potentially reviving 'Girls'
Published in Entertainment News
NEW YORK — Lena Dunham is reflecting on the “merciless” body-shaming she faced in the public eye and whether she’d ever revive “Girls.”
The New Yorker and Judd Apatow mentee, 39, told Variety that she’d be open to reviving HBO’s Brooklyn-set millennial showcase she created, in which Dunham starred as the unabashedly narcissistic 20-something writer Hannah Horvath.
“If we had something to say that was really specific and it was a moment in their lives where we felt like revisiting it — like millennial women becoming mothers or stepping into menopause or going to live at old-age homes — I would always want to work with those people again,” said Dunham, gearing up for this week’s premiere of her Netflix series, “Too Much.”
The Emmy-winning show famously featured an abundance of much-discussed sex scenes, which left Dunham, who has “been in Hollywood at every size,” exposed to body shaming.
“I probably wasn’t protective enough of myself,” said Dunham, whose former outspokenness also used to court controversy. “I have been a sample size, I have had my body change because of life, illness, aging, menopause. And it is merciless wherever you are.”
Afterwards, she said, there was “this moment: Body positivity was here, and then it was gone.”
Dunham suspects that in 2025, Hannah “teaches at Bard and loves raising her son. She probably has a girlfriend who’s, like, a chef. And she’s less obsessed with being famous.”
And the rest of the “Girls” girls — Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet, daughter of Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet), Marnie (Allison Williams, daughter of broadcast journalist Brian Williams) and Jessa (Jemima Kirke, daughter of Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke)?
“Shoshanna was married to, then divorced from, the mayor of New York City, and she runs an athleisure startup that’s zero-waste. Marnie — it’s third marriage. She still sings, but I think Marnie really needs to take it to Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. Jessa is unvaccinated and lives on a boat in Croatia,” said Dunham.
Meanwhile, Adam, the breakout role for Adam Driver, “is a cult theater actor, and he’s probably living in Berlin.”
Alex Karpovsky’s Ray “is still on city council and running his coffee shop and doing better than anyone” and Andrew Rannells’ Elijah “is the fourth lead on a sitcom, making a good amount of money and still looking for love in all the wrong places.”
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