Celeb Departs From Netflix Series Due To Body Shaming Issues
Actress Lena Dunham recently opened up about why she chooses to be part of certain projects and walks away from others. In an interview with The New Yorker, she talked about her experience as an actress on “Girls” and how that influenced her decision not to act in a film she is directing.
While Dunham did choose to act in a few new films including “Treasure” and an upcoming movie she didn’t name, she chose not to act in a semi-autobiographical comedy series she wrote and directed called “Too Much.” While the main character is based on her own life, she chose actress Meghan Stalter to play the lead role.
Dunham explained, “I knew from the very beginning I would not be the star of it.” Then she explained why. She shared, “I was not willing to have another experience like what I’d experienced around “Girls” at this point in my life. Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again.”
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Dunham continued, “That level of scrutiny does not make me feel powerful. It does not make me feel, like, I’ll show you. What makes me feel powerful is making my work. It’s the only thing I want to do.”
In addition to talking about why she didn’t want to be on camera this time, Dunham also talked about her physical health. She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and before her diagnosis, she felt misunderstood. She explained, “I spent half my time in bed as a kid. People thought I was lazy. I do not believe that being lazy is actually a personality trait. I believe that, if people are lazy, they’re depressed, sick, scared, traumatized, or disconnected. I could never participate in gym class. It was a constant ‘My knee hurts.'”
Dunham continued, “In my twenties, I didn’t listen to my body, and it wasn’t until I had some time off that I actually felt what I was feeling, and then I was really scared.”
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While Dunham didn’t write her disability into “Too Much,” she did find it important to cast Stalter who she considers “alarmingly gorgeous” but “not a size 0.” She added, “It seems like we had this moment of body positivity, and then every single day it’s like we’re looking around and it’s like our masses are decreasing.” She added, “It’s really important to me that there be a love affair between a guy and a girl where the fact that she is not teensy-weensy doesn’t drive it.”
Dunham also talked about why she walked away from the “Polly Pocket” movie after working on it for three years. She explained, “I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make ‘Polly Pocket.'”
