We've all heard a lot from Lena Dunham in recent years - and most of it hasn't been good. While she's broken ground as a visionary female writer-director (creating Girls and Camping for HBO), most headlines she's made have been thanks to her outspoken and often controversial nature.
Lena herself is the first to admit that she hasn't kept her image squeaky clean. "I didn't get into this to be a perfect celebrity role model," she told Page Six. "I don't know how to do it. That's not my skill set."
She's even open to the hate she gets on the regular! As she said in her own words in an interview with SiriusXM: "Criticism teaches you about yourself and your blind spots."
Whether you love her or hate her, you're not alone. Read on to learn which celebrities consider themselves to be part of her inner circle...and which couldn't be further from it. She's managed to pick up a few very high profile celeb friends! At the same time, she's managed to offend a whole lot of celebrities. If you're not sure how to feel about her, let these celebs help you decide where you stand.
20 Lorde (Can’t Stand Her)
Lena split with long-time boyfriend, Jack Antonoff, (guitarist in the band, Fun) last January, and Lorde was involved in it all. She and Lena used to be friends. However, when rumors surfaced that Jack had cheated with Lorde, that friendship ended for good. “It was awful,” Lena revealed to The Cut. “We haven’t talked since Jack and I broke up. It was awful, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
19 Emily Gould (Can’t Stand Her)
You might not know Emily Gould - unless you’re big on reading novels - but this successful writer regrets ever crossing paths with Lena Dunham. On a talk show promoting a book, she said Lena made her feel bad at a party once, and (according to Salon) Lena responded by DMing: "you fully suck, I was going to promote your book but you need to get a better talk show story.” Rude!
18 Tessa Thompson (Can’t Stand Her)
Tessa Thompson called Lena out for not being among the first actresses involved in the #MeToo movement. "Lena was not anywhere present in our group during the countless hours of work for the last two months," Tessa told HuffPost Magazine. She was surprised when Lena finally jumped on the bandwagon: "We hosted an open house for actresses for red carpet messaging and Lena’s presence was a surprise to us all."
17 Donald Glover (Can’t Stand Her)
When Donald Glover appeared on Girls, his character trashed Lena’s character in an epic take-down that Lena said was entirely unscripted. “It was one hundred percent him,” she told The New Yorker. When she later emailed him to talk about how he felt about the show, she says he responded with: “Let’s not think back on mistakes we made in the past, let’s just focus on what lies in front of us.”
16 Jenni Konner (Can’t Stand Her)
Jenni Konner and Lena Dunham’s creative partnership made Girls happen, so Lena owes a lot to Jenni. They publicly parted ways in 2018, with a statement saying they “respect each other’s choices” and were being pulled “in different directions,” but Page Six reported that, behind the scenes, their split wasn’t that civil. Jenni says leaving Lena was “such a positive step” in her life. Ouch.
15 Odell Beckham Jr. (Can’t Stand Her)
At the 2016 Met Gala, this football player ignored Lena and she didn’t take it well. “It was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards,” she wrote on LennyLetter.com.
HuffPost reports Odell was hurt by her comments, responding with, “I never want any problems with anybody in this world.” Unfortunately, he’s got problems with Lena now.
14 Aurora Perrineau (Can’t Stand Her)
Lena hired Aurora to play a minor role in Girls, and months later, it surfaced that one of the show's other writers may have behaved inappropriately with Aurora. Lena didn't believe Aurora's claim and said she had "insider information" that disproved it. That was a lie - she didn't have any information, and later had to apologize for treating Aurora badly. We don’t blame Aurora for not accepting the apology.
13 James Franco (Can’t Stand Her)
James and Lena are connected through Judd Apatow. The producer/director was a friend to both of them and gave each of them their big breaks. Even though they’re part of the same famous friendship group, these two are rumored to not get along at all.
James even harshly criticized Girls during its run, by writing a bad review for HuffPost.com, saying Lena’s characters were “losers” who just needed to “get a f****ng job.”
12 Aubrey Plaza (Likes Her)
Aubrey and Lena are part of the same Judd Apatow-centered friendship group. Here they are cuddling up at the premiere of his movie, This Is 40. The Guardian reports that Aubrey is also close friends with fashion designer, Rachel Antonoff - the sister of Lena's ex, Jack, who remains one of Lena's buddies...even after the breakup.
11 Adam Driver (Likes Her)
The world met Adam Driver when she played 'Adam' in Girls. As was the case with most of the season one cast (more on that later), Lena hired Adam because they were pals off-screen. She still supports his career, especially his Star Wars role. "It’s really exciting to see your friends in an action movie, slaying people, doing supernatural things," she told Rolling Stone. "It’s not an experience you get every day."
10 Gina Gershon (Likes Her)
Like her or not, it's undeniable that Lena is a major businesswoman and player in the TV production scene - and Gina plays just that on Riverdale these days. She stars as Jughead's hardworking businesswoman mom on the series. Lena and Gina haven't said much publicly about their friendship, but they're constantly photographed together, having a laugh at red carpet events.
9 Amy Poehler (Likes Her)
Lena Dunham isn't shy about her support for the American women's health organization, Planned Parenthood - and Amy isn't shy about supporting Lena's support for it! She bought one of Lena's Planned Parenthood fundraising T-shirts and blasted out a pic of herself wearing it on Twitter. Amy also featured Lena as a role model on her 'girl empowerment' website, Smart Girls at the Party.
8 Jemima Kirke (Likes Her)
They’ve had their rough patches, but if IG Stories are proof of people getting along, we can say for sure that these two have been palling around as recently as last month. Vulture reports they've been friends since childhood - even though Lena accidentally tweeted out Jemima's REAL phone number last year. Maybe Jemima can't stay mad at the friend who gave her her biggest role yet (Jessa on Girls).
7 B.J. Novak (Likes Her)
Lena and B.J. both had big hits on the literary scene in 2014 with their books, Not That Kind of Girl (Lena) and The Book with No Pictures (B.J.). Looks like they might share the same sense of humor, too. They've been spotted hanging out together at bookish events like the Book Expo America festival, according to Just Jared.
6 Claire Danes (Likes Her)
This friendship was caught on film when Lena crashed Claire’s red carpet interview with E! She jostled her way to Claire's side and said, “I’m really excited because you’re my really good friend and I never get to see you!” Claire then looked into the camera and said, "I love this lady very much.” Business Insider reports that these two have been close since growing up in the same NYC neighborhood.
5 Karlie Kloss (Likes Her)
What do straight-talking TV writer, Lena Dunham, and high-profile glamazon, Karlie Kloss, have in common? They're both pals with a certain celebrity singer, for one. When Taylor Swift brought these two together to appear in her Bad Blood music video, they reportedly hit it off, and have snuggled up together at red carpet events ever since.
4 Allison Williams (Likes Her)
They play best friends Hannah and Marnie on Girls, but are these two actually close IRL? The answer is yes, even though rumors have swirled for years about Allison and Lena feuding. When Andy Cohen asked if there was any truth to the rumors, Alison told him she has no hate for Lena - just love. "She's so sweet and good and I just love her, I'll always love her."
3 Iris Apatow (Likes Her)
"I have known Iris Apatow since she was a giggly, blonde seven-year-old when I had just started working with her father, Judd, on my first TV show," Lena explained in a profile of Iris for Teen Vogue. "Now 16, she’s a coolheaded, sometimes flat-ironed teen whom I would like to think of as the Ashley to my Mary-Kate." Aw!
2 Taylor Swift (Likes Her)
According to The Guardian, this friendship kicked off in 2012, when Lena DM'd Taylor saying simply, "Can we be friends please?" The two have been besties ever since. Taylor credits Lena with educating her on today's big political issues "without her preaching to me," and Lena says Taylor has loved her "through every rough moment and the triumphant ones too."
1 Amy Schumer (Likes Her)
Lena says Amy Schumer has helped her to be strong in the face of all the criticism she's gotten over the past few years. The pair bonded over the hate they've received, Lena told The Huffington Post, and she considers Amy both a friend and a role model. "She’s titanium, and part of her skill is the ability to make it look easy," Lena said of Amy.
Sources: HuffingtonPost.co.uk, HuffPost.com, PageSix.com, Girlfriend.com, TheCut.com, Glamour.com, TheUndefeated.com, VanityFair.com, Wmagazine.com, Guardian.co.uk, RollingStone.com, Vogue.com, JustJared.com, BusinessInsider.com
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