Jenni Konner and Lena Dunham.Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty
Lena Dunhamis opening up about her split from former producing partnerJenni Konnerback in 2018.
After working on the hit HBO seriesGirlstogether, Dunham and Konner teamed up again for the channel’s comedy seriesCamping. Dunham left production mid-way through filming the first and only seasonto go to rehabfor a benzodiazepines addiction, and she and Konnerparted waysshortly after.
Dunham, 35, reflected on the connection between her exit from rehab and the end of her professional relationship with Konner in a new interview withThe Hollywood Reporter.
“I think my recovery played a part in the break with Jenni insofar as it showed me that I needed to pause and clear the slate,” she told the outlet. “I needed to almost start again and just hear my own voice.”
Lena Dunham.ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty
She added thatCamping,which received a mostly negative response from critics, “was a reminder to me that to make things that really were truthful to me, I needed to go back to a kind of quieter place.”
In 2018, Dunham and Konner released a joint statement announcing their decision to no longer work together.
“We have had one of the most significant relationships together in our adult lives and we respect each other’s choices,” the pair said. “While our interests are pulling us in different directions right now, we are excited about our current work and are firmly committed to the projects we have together. HBO has been our home for quite some time and we look forward to continuing there as we both move forward.”
Around the same time, Dunham had also recentlyundergone a hysterectomyto treat her endometriosis pain andbroken upwith boyfriendJack Antonoffafter more than five years together.
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In theTHRinterview, she said the whirlwind time, which was shortly afterGirlscame to an end, prompted her to retreat from the spotlight.
Lena Dunham.Stefanie Keenan/Getty
“I just realized that the experience ofGirlsand my 20s was such an all-encompassing hurricane of both validation and derision that in order for me to keep that place of myself that loved to make art, that was what needed to happen,” she said.
Today, Dunham is newly married (shewedmusicianLuis Felberin September) and has a new movie,Sharp Stick,premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday.
She toldTHRthat when COVID-19 pandemic hit, the increased isolation helped her dig deeper into her art.
source: people.com
