Lena Dunham Says She Took an ‘Intentional Break' From Acting After ‘Girls'

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Lena Dunham explained why she took an 'intentional break' from acting after her HBO series Girls came to an end in 2017. Speaking to the Times, Dunham said she stepped back from public life after facing backlash for a series of controversies.
'I didn't really understand how to distinguish between what was and wasn't necessary for the public,' she said. 'I felt confused about how I was supposed to respond. I thought if I explain properly who I am, or give a glimpse of who I am, people are going to have a different perception of me, that we would be friends. But no one cares — and that's fine.'
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During Girls, which ran for six seasons from 2012 to 2017, Dunham faced backlash for the show's frank depiction of sex, nudity, and abortion, but also for her public comments about the series. She once said in an interview that while she had never had an abortion she wished she had. She defended the Girls' writer Murray Millar after he was accused of sexual assault. 'I always joke that I need a T-shirt that says, 'I survived New York media in 2012 and all I got was this lousy T-shirt,'' Dunham said. 'And all I got was this lousy PTSD.'
After the show ended, Dunham became addicted to prescription anxiety medication. She told the Times that 'had a lot to do with managing my physical pain.' She also went to rehab.
'I felt like all the maturing and changing that had been kept at bay by the experience of being in that cocoon of the show was suddenly happening at a speed that was overwhelming,' she said. 'It was a painful metamorphosis. I definitely took an intentional break [from public life].'
Dunham's new show, Too Much, premieres on Netflix on July 10. It stars Meg Stalter as a New Yorker named Jessica who moves to London after a breakup. She soon begins a relationship with quirky indie musician Felix, played by Will Sharpe. The show was co-created by Dunham, who plays Jessica's sister, and her real-life musician husband Luis Felber. It has a more romantic vibe than Girls, which Dunham told the Times was purposeful.
'That was clearly a reflection of how I saw my twenties,' Dunham explained of Girls. 'It's interesting — when I am reminded of the seasons [of Girls], I can see what I was thinking, what place I was in, when I was falling in love, when I was in pain. It's all in there. I also felt in my twenties there was something embarrassing about writing things that were saccharine or sincere or happy. I was much more interested in irony and satire and harshness and surprising and sometimes scandalizing people. I felt like I needed to reflect the toughest aspects of life back to people so that they would feel less alone. And now I think maybe you can reflect the sweeter parts of life to people so they can feel hopeful.'
Elsewhere in the interview, Dunham reflected on her friendship with Taylor Swift, who she described as a role model. 'She's a mind-blowing person,' Dunham said. 'I think she's extraordinarily well adjusted and emotionally intuitive. And it's really amazing for young women to see that in front of them.'
In 2017, Dunham told Rolling Stone that she was inspired by Swift's ability to navigate being in the public eye. 'I felt young when my career started and I was 23, 24,' Dunham said. 'When I met her, she was newly 22, and she was a fucking seasoned pro at this stuff. Watching the way that she understands the vicissitudes of the cycle, and she just keeps making her work — that's just really impressive to me. That's how I hope to live my life, which is not as a slave to public opinion, but just as somebody who continues to make things.'
She continued, 'She's truly just an artist who has to make things to survive. I guess that's what we have most in common. And she's never not making music. If people know about it or they don't, she's never not making music, and that's like, something that I've really watched with a lot of admiration. Because she's been put through the wringer, and she's continued to make her work. People who understand how to protect themselves but aren't so beaten down that they can't be creative — that to me is the greatest.'
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