Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Celebs, Entertainment, Lena Dunham, Movies, TV
Sarah Halle Corey
There was a time when Lena Dunham was everywhere: Magazine covers, movie premieres, and Twitter (back when Twitter was a thing). It was peak millennial core, circa 2012 when her show Girls was at the height of its popularity. But despite what the current indie sleaze trend might make you believe, we’re not currently living in the 2010s. And Lena Dunham has taken a step back from the public eye.
Lena was just spotted in public for the first time in seven months on March 31, 2025. For someone who chooses to mostly stay behind the scenes these days, she had a very good reason to show up. Lena spoke at a Trans Day of Visibility rally in Washington D.C. and voiced her support for the Christopher Street Project, which “builds and leverages political power to make equity a reality for transgender people across the country.” Like I said, it’s a very good reason!
“I used to think that winning meant you just keep doing it and you don’t care what anybody thinks,” Lena said to The New Yorker in 2024 about her decision to take a step back from acting. “I forgot that winning is actually just protecting yourself and doing what you need to do to keep making work.”
Lena is still writing and directing, and she has an upcoming semi-autobiographical TV show called Too Much, which will be coming out on Netflix soon. But in the meantime, let’s look at Lena Dunham over the years.
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For some reason, in 2003, The New York Times wrote a feature about a dinner party a then 16-year-old Lena threw for her high school friends at her parents’ Brooklyn home. I guess it was because Lena was a burgeoning filmmaker? When Lena was in the public eye, she was really in the public eye.
Tiny Furniture was Lena’s big breakthrough movie. She wrote, directed, and starred in the indie feature, putting her stamp all over the project.
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Lena won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay for Tiny Furniture in 2011.
Girls premiered on HBO in 2012, and the world was forever changed.
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Lena attended her first of many Met Galas in 2012, rocking a Barbie pink shoe.
Jack Antonoff and Lena were together from 2012 to 2018. In 2012, Lena attended his sister Rachel’s fashion week show in some very skinny jeans.
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Marking the end of a landmark year for Lena, she was named a Glamour Woman of the Year in 2012.
Lena went to the Grammys with Jack in 2013 with some very 2013-coded heavy eyeliner.
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The Lena Dunham media blitz continued in 2013 when she was named to the Time 100 list that year.
She matched her eyeshadow to her dress for her 2013 Emmys look.
Lena considers Taylor Swift one of her besties, and they shared a hug at the 2014 Golden Globes.
Jump scare! Surprise blonde Lena!
The blonde shifted to a striking bright green later in 2014 when Lena was spotted at an event for her book Not That Kind of Girl in London.
Did you know this picture of Lena Dunham and Kim Kardashian at a Variety event existed? Because I didn’t, and now I can’t stop staring at it.
Lena attended the 2015 Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment event in one of the most colorful outfits I’ve ever seen.
Am I crazy, or is the furry green coat kind of a slay?
Lena donned glasses for her 2016 Met Gala outing, fully embracing her hipster millennial form.
The monogrammed clutch? The bunny slipper heels? The chunky necklace? There’s so much to discuss.
Lena started rocking bangs in late 2016, along with a choker necklace that was kinda ahead of its time.
The premiere of the final season of Girls had Lena bringing out the big guns again, aka colorful eyeshadow.
Lena went for a much more demure look at a 92nd Street Y event in 2017.
There’s a slightly 1960s vibe happening here, and I don’t hate it.
Lena was a redhead for a very brief moment in 2017.
I don’t know what kind of ear jewelry that is, but I am so intrigued.
This was Lena’s last awards season for Girls, and she went out with a bang.
Coming off of all the excitement of Girls, Lena penned an essay for Vogue about her decision to have a hysterectomy at age 31.
Another statement-heel moment for Lena with this 2018 look.
Lena attended the premiere of Veep in 2019, looking almost as colorful as the red carpet itself.
This look kinda screams Florida lady out for brunch with the girls (complimentary).
With the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and major lockdowns, Lena was a guest on Watch What Happens Live from the comfort of her own home.
Lena emerged from the pandemic lockdown with this sort of Victorian doll aesthetic.
Another colorful pattern for Lena in September 2021.
Lena married musician Luis Felber in 2021, and they made their red carpet debut in 2022.
Lena attended the premiere for her Catherine Called Birdy, which she directed.
Lena went back to the heavy eyeliner for this dramatic look in November 2022.
Lena was decked out in Miu Miu for — what else? — a Miu Miu event.
Lena used to show her naked body in Girls, but these days the nudity is printed on her clothes.
Lena took the coquette trend to a whole new level with plenty of bows in Berlin.
Okay, can we take a moment to contemplate the size of the bows on those shoes??
Lena gave an impassioned speech in Washington, D.C., on Trans Day of Visibility.