Lena Dunham Admits Privilege Helped Her Find Success at 23 with Girls

At the age of 23, Lena Dunham’s privilege led to her big break on television. While her show, Girls, ended in 2017, she now admits that her privilege is the reason why she got a deal with HBO.

Despite the criticism, Girls has won many awards including Golden Globes and BAFTA.

The story revolves around four girls living in New York City who are trying to adjust to many demands of being an adult. Although it is mostly fictional, some aspects of the show are based on Lena Dunham’s life. Due to its frequent nudity and openness, Girls have been criticized many times. However, it has also generated a lot of critical acclaim for its raw portrayal of women and their relationships. Apart from Dunham, the cast includes Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver, and Alex Karpovsky. After three years of its last season, the show is again in news. People are discussing how Lena Dunham’s privilege brought this show to life.

In a series of tweets, Lena Dunham’s privilege was addressed by the Girls star.

Since people have started talking about white privilege, Lena Dunham’s privilege also came up. When she pitched her show to HBO, she did so without explaining the plot and characters. At the age of 23, this show gave her career a jump start. However, people have called her out for this. In response to this, she admitted that it was indeed her privilege which helped her do so. On her Twitter account, Lena Dunham addressed this and said:

“Whenever I found out I’m trending, I have to immediately check if I’m alive! Then, I try and see if there’s a constructive dialogue to have on Twitter. Often there isn’t, but today there really WAS. It actually wasn’t a dialogue – it was just me agreeing that the Hollywood system is rigged in favor of white people and that my career took off at a young age with relative ease, ease I wasn’t able to recognize because I also didn’t know what privilege was.”

While talking about the lessons she has learned so far, Dunham said:

“The past ten years have been a series of lessons. The lesson now? Sit down. Shut up, unless it’s to advocate for change for Black people. Listen. Make art in private for awhile- no one needs your book right now lady. Give reparations widely. Defund the police. Rinse & repeat.”

After the show, she also released two books which were equally successful.