The 'Catherine, Called Birdy' director confesses she initially 'struggled' to decide to undergo a hysterectomy for fears of being unable to bear children.
- Sep 27, 2022
AceShowbiz - Lena Dunham had a hard time when deciding to put her health above having children. Being open about her struggles with endometriosis and ultimately undergoing a hysterectomy, the "Girls" creator - who is married to Luis Felber - eventually realised she couldn't carrying on living in constant pain although she was initially worried she'd closed the door on starting a family.
"It was one of those decisions where… it's not really a decision? I struggled with this idea, that I had chosen my own health over being able to bear children," she told Observer magazine. "But really it wasn't a choice at all because the person I would have continued to be had I remained in that kind of pain would not have been a person I could really live as... I didn't realise how much of my time had been taken up with the concerns of my body."
The 36-year-old star admitted it is only looking back now that she can see how much she was affected by her health issues in her 20s. She said, "Chronic pain is another one of those things, like 'chronic internet trolling', that I didn't give enough credit to in my 20s. Now I view everything that happened then through a lens of pain - this sort of ozone layer that no one can see around you, that defines your reactions."
Lena is horrified by how much online abuse she used to receive over her curvy figure while she was ill and, though she is "bigger" now, she's proud of her body and everything she has overcome. She reflected, "And the funny thing is, now I'm much 'curvier', 'bigger', whatever, than I was in my 20s it's wild to me that THAT was the body everybody critiqued: the body of an anxious, emaciated, aching person."
"I look at her and can't believe that little hurting girl was subjected to this. What does that say to everybody else in the world? Now I'm able to very proudly be in the body I'm in, recognising what it's taken to get here."
