So Lena Dunham has lost a lot of weight recently, right? A considerable amount of weight, really.
But the thing is, she doesn’t want any of us to talk about it.
“But why?” you might be thinking. “She keeps talking about it herself, what does she expect?”
And those are good questions — Lena started losing weight a few months ago, and she’s been open about the reason behind it.
In a February interview with Howard Stern, she explained that “Donald Trump became president and I stopped being able to eat food.”
“Everyone’s been asking like, ‘What have you been doing?"” she went on. “And I’m like, ‘Try soul-crushing pain and devastation and hopelessness and you, too, will lose weight."”
In January, she called a Glamour cover in which some cellulite was visible on her legs a “triumph for womankind,” so she’s clearly comfortable with talking about any and all aspects of her body and her weight.
But in a great big long Instagram post she shared yesterday, she insists that she’s not cool with people talking about her weight.
We know that because the photo she shared was a screenshot from an article titled “People Need to Stop Talking About Lena Dunham’s Weight.”
In her caption, she writes “I feel I’ve made it pretty clear over the years that I don’t give even the tiniest of sh-ts what anyone else feels about my body.”
“I’ve gone on red carpets in couture as a size 14. I’ve done sex scenes days after surgery, mottled with scars.”
“I’ve accepted that my body is an every-changing organism,” she writes, “not a fixed entity — what goes up must come down and vice versa.”
“I smile just as wide no matter my current size because I’m proud of what this body has seen and done and represented. Chronic illness sufferer. Body-shaming vigilante. Sexual assault survivor. Raging hottie. Just like all of YOU.”
And this is where it gets weird — she says that “Right now I’m struggling to control my endometriosis through a healthy diet and exercise.”
What about Trump though, girl? Why the change in the story?
Regardless, Lena continues by saying that her weight loss “isn’t a triumph and it also isn’t some sign I’ve finally given in to the voices of trolls.”
“Because my body belongs to ME — at every phase, in every iteration, and whatever I’m doing with it, I’m not handing in my feminist card to anyone.”
“I refuse to celebrate these bullsh-t before-and-after-pictures,” she concludes. “Don’t we have infinitely more pressing news to attend to?”
… K.
It’s just strange because … like, of course her body belongs to her. And as someone who thoroughly enjoys posing nude or nearly nude at every opportunity, she should realize that people are going to notice big changes.
Pointing out her weight loss isn’t somehow an anti-feminist move, and it’s not like people are saying “Thank goodness she finally lost some weight, she’s finally a real person now!”
Everyone loves a good weight loss before-and-after. It’s human nature. It doesn’t have to mean something terrible, and it doesn’t require an essay.
So take that body that belongs to you, Lena, and just chill for a little bit.
