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Everyone needs to shut up about Lena Dunham’s weight loss

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Looks like Lena Dunham just can’t do anything right. The creator, writer and star of Girls went on Ellen DeGeneres's talk show and told the host about how she’s now being shamed for losing weight.

"It's just so crazy because I spent six years of my career being called things like 'bag of milk' on the Internet. Baby cow, aging cow. I also just never felt self-conscious about it. I was like: Anyone who was going to take the time to say something negative about my weight on the Internet wasn't someone I was particularly keen to impress anyway."

Lena has always been very body positive and is also a staunch advocate for chronic illness sufferers like herself.

She suffers from endometriosis and has previously opened up about it in her newsletter, the Lenny Letter, and on her social media platforms. Her decision to do more exercise and have a more balanced diet is in an effort to help alleviate her symptoms and have a stronger, healthier body.

READ MORE: Endometriosis: when it feels like your period is killing you

In a lengthy Instagram caption (below) posted about a year ago, she wrote that she wouldn’t be able to do press tours for the current and last season of Girls due to her illness:

“As many of you know I have endometriosis, a chronic condition that affects approximately 1 in 10 women's reproductive health. I am currently going through a rough patch with the illness and my body (along with my amazing doctors) let me know, in no uncertain terms, that it's time to rest. That's a hard thing to do, but I'm trying, because all I want is to make season 6 of Girls the best one yet. I'm lucky enough to have support and backup from Jenni, Judd and the whole Girls gang. So many women with this disease literally don't have the option of time off and I won't take it for granted”

Lena has, in recent posts, shown her Instagram followers how she’s now doing yoga and doing workouts with her trainer Tracy Anderson. She told People at the launch of Tracy’s New York studio that her wanting to exercise was not a means to lose weight, but rather a way to help her deal with the chronic physical pain.

She also said to Ellen: "I had this experience of my body changing and suddenly I got all of these people being like, 'You're a hypocrite. I thought you were body-positive. I thought you were a person who embraces bodies of all sizes'. I do, I just understand that bodies change, we live a long time. Things happen."

She also joked that her Girls co-star Andrew Rannells could “get very fat” someday.

The one thing the frustrated Lena has come to realise from all the backlash she’s received about her weight is that "… as a woman in Hollywood, you just can't win."

And it’s true isn’t it? But I wouldn’t just limit it to Hollywood. Yes, they certainly get a lot more flack because they’re in the limelight, but I think the average woman on the street who calls herself body positive is also often attacked if she loses weight simply because people think it’s their business to tell women what to do with their bodies.

It’s not.

And everyone who keeps telling women that their weight gain/loss, their revealing clothing or even their makeup or hair is a problem needs to step back and have a seat.

Like Lena said in a more recent Instagram post:

“I've accepted that my body is an ever changing organism, not a fixed entity- what goes up must come down and vice versa. I smile just as wide no matter my current size because I'm proud of what this body has seen and done and represented. Chronic illness sufferer. Body-shaming vigilante. Sexual assault survivor. Raging hottie. Just like all of YOU. Right now I'm struggling to control my endometriosis through a healthy diet and exercise. So my weight loss isn't a triumph and it also isn't some sign I've finally given in to the voices of trolls. Because my body belongs to ME--at every phase, in every iteration, and whatever I'm doing with it, I'm not handing in my feminist card to anyone.”

Thank you for this @Refinery29. I feel I've made it pretty clear over the years that I don't give even the tiniest of shits what anyone else feels about my body. I've gone on red carpets in couture as a size 14. I've done sex scenes days after surgery, mottled with scars. I've accepted that my body is an ever changing organism, not a fixed entity- what goes up must come down and vice versa. I smile just as wide no matter my current size because I'm proud of what this body has seen and done and represented. Chronic illness sufferer. Body-shaming vigilante. Sexual assault survivor. Raging hottie. Just like all of YOU. Right now I'm struggling to control my endometriosis through a healthy diet and exercise. So my weight loss isn't a triumph and it also isn't some sign I've finally given in to the voices of trolls. Because my body belongs to ME--at every phase, in every iteration, and whatever I'm doing with it, I'm not handing in my feminist card to anyone. So thank you to my girl @ashleygraham for writing so gorgeously about this on @lennyletter (link in bio). Thank you to @tracyandersonmethod for teaching me that exercise has the power to counteract my pain and anxiety, and to @jennikonner for being my partner in FUCK IT. I refuse to celebrate these bullshit before-and-after pictures. Don't we have infinitely more pressing news to attend to? So much love to all my web friends who demand that life be more than a daily weigh in, who know their merit has nothing to do with their size, who fight to be seen and heard and accepted. I love you- Lena

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on

No one should tell you what to do with your body or how to do it. And Lena Dunham deciding to take ownership of her body, making it strong and healthier should be celebrated, not mocked or shamed.

All bodies are good bodies.

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