Lena Dunham's been giving a lot of interviews on TV, radio, and the internet lately, and that means we're inundated with a bunch of fabulous Lena Dunham quotes. The “Girls” doyenne's new book “Not That Kind of Girl” is a personal collection of essays, and thus her subsequent media appearances have included some very personal revelations. Here are our five favorite insights she's recently thrown down.
1. “The View”: On writing
“We all have our methods of catharsis, but for me that's what writing's always been. It's a way to handle the experiences that were too much to process in the moment.”
2. “The Daily Show”: On handling the perks and pitfalls of fame
“It's not something when you're writing in your room and dreaming of this career that you necessarily think about. 'I'm going to have a TV show and i'm going to write a book and everyone's going to hate me on the internet!' At the same time, it's this double-edged sword of… you have this gift of people paying attention your work. My motto would be, 'I try to react with class and a little bit of sass.'”
3. “Ask Lena”: On feminism
“Part of being a feminist is giving other women the freedom to make choices you might not necessarily make yourself.”
4. “Jimmy Kimmel Live”: On attending the Emmys
“[The Emmys] is a long night that deprives me of the two things I'm most passionate about, which is eating and peeing. Normally I like to do that at 20-minute intervals.”
5. NPR's “Fresh Air with Terry Gross”: On surviving and discussing sexual assault in her book (as quoted by Jezebel).
“I hated the idea of somebody finding out that information [independently of me telling them] because at the time that it happened, it wasn't something I was able to be honest about. I was able to share pieces, but I used the lens of humor, which has always been my default-mode to try to talk around it. I said to this old friend in an email, 'I spent so much time scared; I spent so much time ashamed. I don't feel that way anymore and it's not because of my job, it's not because of my boyfriend, it's not because of feminism, though all those things helped. It's because I told the story. And I'm still here, and my identity hasn't shifted in some way that I can't repair. And I still feel like myself and I feel less alone.'”
Amazing. Hopefully this is just the beginning of her great talk show tour.