We can now add Lena Dunham to the list of celebrities who can offer up first-hand accounts of what life with COVID-19 can be like; the Girls creator posted on Instagram this weekend about her experience with the disease, noting that she was diagnosed back in March, and that “This isn’t like passing the flu to your co-worker.”
In her post, Dunham discusses what sounds like three extremely unpleasant weeks of direct symptoms of the disease, writing that, “Suddenly my body simply… revolted. The nerves in my feet burned and muscles wouldn’t seem to do their job. I couldn’t sleep but I couldn’t wake up. I lost my sense of taste and smell. A hacking cough, like a metronome keeping time. Inability to breathe after simple tasks like getting a glass of water. Random red washes. A pounding headache right between my eyes. It felt like I was a complex machine that had been unplugged and then had my wires rerouted into the wrong inputs.”
Like other celebs before her (including Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, and several others), Dunham wrote that she was speaking up about her experiences in order to heighten the need for people to take preventative measures to prevent the coronavirus’ spread:
I’m reluctant to share this, having rewritten and rewritten it anxiously. I don’t want to unnecessarily add my voice to a noisy landscape on such a challenging topic, as an unfathomable number of people have lost their lives to COVID-19—a phrase we didn’t even know in January.”
But seeing the carelessness with which so many in the United States are treating social distancing, people jogging without masks and parties on Instagram, I feel compelled to be honest about the impact this illness has had on me, in the hopes that personal stories allow us to see the humanity in what can feel like abstract situations.
Dunham says that after roughly 21 days of symptoms, she recovered from the initial wave of the disease’s effects, and shortly after tested negative for COVID-19. But she also says that she has plenty of symptoms that haven’t abated in the aftermath of “active” phase of the disease, and pointed out that doctors are still struggling to understand the long-term impacts of the disease. “This is the biggest deal in our country,” she closes, “And in the world right now. When you take the appropriate measures to protect yourself and your neighbors, you save them a world of pain. You save them a journey that no one deserves to take, with a million outcomes we don’t yet understand, and a million people with varying resources and varying levels of support who are not ready for this tidal wave to take them.”
90 Comments
Sounds like Dunham went through a difficult time. Hopefully she will feel better.
pablum
I haven’t ever watched Girls and don’t know her but for the things she says (that I see on this site), but I’m happy to hear she recovered and don’t wish it on anyone. This is a pretty important message to put out there and I hope the people who do follow her and were more ambivalent about it before are more serious about it now.
I’m reluctant to share thisHas she ever spoken those words before?
This is in poor taste in regards to what she posted about.
Are you kidding me? Dunham is Walking Bad Taste.
Eh. Years of her disseminating detached irony have made it difficult to know how to handle it when she’s being sincere.
“Are you being sarcastic, dude?”
When I saw the headline, I figured it was 50/50 that she actually had it and “living through it” was some Dunham-esque complaining about how lockdown was like torture or something.
Nah
Everything about that human dumpster fire is in poor taste. Even the virus would rather die than spend much time with her.
Pretty certain everything she does is in poor taste. Remember how angry she got when that black guy had the gall to not try to have sex with her?
lol fuck you
It’s not in poor taste. She’s a notorious attention whore. And at her age/demographic, you’re more likely to die from the common flu than COVID.
Not as in poor taste as outing one’s sister.
People have very little sympathy for abusers these days.
Then I won’t post the amazingly snarky comment I was ready to make.
I’m now going to hell for laughing at this. Take your star, I hope you’re happy.
Perhaps, but she’s never considered actually following through on that reluctance.
Spoken? Yes. Meant? No.
Yes, in regards to someone asking her if they could have a taste of the full chocolate cake that was on her plate.
My first inclination is to tell you what an insensitive cunt you are. But then, I figured that’s not a very nice thing to say.
She’s racist and you are worried about a light jab… Mighty white of you.
I gave you a 🌟. I would hate for your brilliant comment to go unnoticed.
Not enough folks give sarcastic stars these days.
Oof your comment history is a mess.
I know. Creepy to check it though just for a meaningless post.
It’s just hot takes and accusations. Your commentary on anything is fucking nuts and I think there’s something possibly wrong with you or you’re just a troll.
Way to stick up for the abuser, got any kind words of support for Woody Allen whilst you’re at it?
The fuck is wrong with you?
I both agree with you completely and am glad she shared this experience. It isn’t like other times when she has talked out of her ass or centered herself in a conversation where she isn’t at the center. This is a straightforward account of an experience. But poking fun is fine.
This was quite well written and I’m glad she shared her experience. Normally I’d go for maybe some snarky comment, but nope. I’m glad she got over it and her bout with it sounds awful and scary especially in March. I know one person who unfortunately died of it, a friend’s mom early on and it was a horrible experience. She died alone in a hospital since obviously no one could visit within 3 days of experiencing the first symptoms. It was during the huge initial outbreak in Nyc and everything was a mess and scary af. She wasn’t really that old or unhealthy it just took hold very badly. Take this shit seriously people and try not to kill other people or yourself.
Yeah. Dunham bugs me, but I wouldn’t wish covid on anyone. Not even some trust fund hipster racist brat from Brooklyn.
Don’t forget sexual predator!
I have to disagree with you on “well written”. It’s drowning in excess adjectives (landscapes are noisy, numbers unfathomable, topics challenging, etc.), and were she not famous it would never be published.I’ve not read her book, because good God why would I?, but she is in need of an editor.
Now that it’s not only Hollywood, liberal celebrities suffering the virus, but prominent Republican politicians (some, like Herman Cain, fatally) and Republican voters in Red States, the circle of denialists and anti-maskers will significantly shrink. Or should. William Saletan at Slate the other day wrote a piece citing many polls where Republicans highly favored mandatory mask orders.
Unfortunately I don’t think this is the case at all. For every Republican/denialist who gets Covid-19, that reduced the number of doubters by… 1. Maybe.
I have a question – should preface by saying I’m not American, by the way – and just commented above that the mind boggles that masks are a political issue in the US.I was wondering, are there any famous democrats who are vocally anti-mask? Or is it solely a stance of the Trump-deplorables, politicians trying to curry Trump’s favour, and the young-and-not-too-bright?
As far as I’ve heard (which is not to say I’ve done a ton of research or gone actively looking or anything) no prominent Democrat’s said anything anti-mask, in public statements anyway. It does seem to be a stance of Republicans, right-wing lunatics (or both e.g. Gohmert, Gaetz, that shitpile Tucker Carlson, etc), and random dumbshits who likely own or covet MAGA hats.
And the same people who are anti mask are the exact same people who said “ my job is essential too” and wanted everyone back to work only a few weeks into the quarantine.
The overwhelming majority of anti-mask are conservatives/Republicans in red states:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/315590/americans-face-mask-usage-varies-greatly-demographics.aspx
It is trump cult members and morons. Yes, I repeated myself.
We’ve managed to make climate change, race, gender, and the right to not die because you can’t afford medical car all into political issues. Wearing masks was destined to be politicized because we’re that damn stupid. To answer your question though, I don’t know of any Democrats who oppose masks. There may be some in the battleground states who’re trying to cater to the voters on the right, but most likely they’ll stick to using guns as a way to do that and support wearing masks.
I don’t believe they’ve come out yet, but we know there are celebrities who are both democrats and woo-woo anti-vax homeopathic douchebags – and if they’re that, then there’s a very good chance they’re also anti-mask in favor of, like, crystal healing or some shit.
No. We are the sane ones
have you seen the big anti mask protest happening in germany?
There are plenty of Democrat voters who are anti-mask. They’re just not as vocal about it.
By “plenty”, do you mean a sizeable percentage of Democratic (see – that’s how you make an adjective) voters or a couple of randos?
Citation needed.
The anti-mask stance is almost entirely a Trump-country culture war phenomenon. Trump actually said in an interview (only six weeks ago!) that he believed people were only wearing masks to express disapproval of Trump. There are probably some liberal individuals here and there who are resisting the masks, but I don’t know of any Democratic elected officials who are expressing any level of mask skepticism. Like everything else in our disintegrating society, this issue breaks down neatly along the lines of party / culture war affiliation.
Oh, this kind of stupidity isn’t just for the US anymore. Germany just had a huge anti-mask/anti-shutdown protest this weekend and I think it’s fairly large sentiment in South America, too. I don’t know why anyone is so up in arms about wearing a mask. You’d think these people would have revolted a long time ago over shirt or pants.
I mean, a lot of anti-maskers have said that people die, it’s no big deal, that’s how life goes. I blame this cavalier attitude on religion – believing there’s an awesome afterlife and you’re definitely getting in makes it a lot easier to justify death.
Nope. Trumpers have convinced themselves cancer killed Herman Cain, and not the ‘Rona. We are well into the opening credits o Idiocracy.
I don’t know, I’ve already read too many stories about anti-maskers who even when someone in their family DIES from Covid, they still refuse. They cite the usual horseshit about Freedom, the Libs, relying on the blood of Jesus as their own spiritual vaccine, etc. They are truly lost.
Oh boy, cuz nothing adds credibility to a cause/serious discussion like Lena Dunham chiming in…
To me, she always seems like an example of the “look at me” type of fake “woke” person that inspires opposite reactions.That being said, I’m glad she recovered and all.
I’m not saying that you’re wrong in most cases, but in this case the fact that she didn’t talk about this much until 4+ months later is the opposite of “look at me.” She could’ve been posting stories talking about her symptoms constantly if she were just looking to get attention or sympathy. This was an educational post.
True dat.. she does irk me overall so I was probably a bit harsh considering the circumstance.
She’s pure privilege.
“That being said, I’m glad she recovered and all.”LOL, are you sure?
Fuck this woman. Stop giving her page space.
I doubt she even had Covid. She’s the exact type of person to fake it for the attention.
Unless you’re Odell Beckham Jr. she’d probably turn you down.
And that’s worth barking at her about? You don’t dig her? She’s not doing this to amuse you.
No she’s doing it to revive her flagging personality – abusers work this way, it’s the same reason Kevin Spacey pops up in character every so often.
100% do not doubt she’d do this for a grasp at relevancy
I am glad she wrote this, I wish more people in the public eye who have been through this awful disease would use their profile to add to the chorus of “THIS DISEASE IS NOT A JOKE” because it is infuriating the number of people who still aren’t taking this seriously.Not to nitpick at an otherwise well written account, the one thing I found a bit jarring to read was her singling out “jogging without masks”. Yes it would be great if everyone jogging wore masks but, in the grand scheme of things, that really is many rungs down the ladder of priorities considering it’s still a battle to get people to wear masks in the more obviously risky scenarios … wear masks indoors,wear masks when in groups, wear masks wherever there’s poor ventilationwear masks when you and people not in your household are stationary, together(I still find it incomprehensible that not wearing masks is a hill many choose to – literally – die on).
I don’t know, I kind of get it. If you’re in a crowded city there are a lot of joggers out there not wearing masks- and when they pass you on the sidewalk, especially catching you unaware from behind, it’s pretty unnerving. Sure, not the highest priority, but in NYC or similar it’s not nothing.
Yeah, I am in a crowded city too with loads of joggers, I agree with you, and as I said above, would be great if they all wore masks. My point stands though … Having a jogger go past me exhaling deeply *is* unnerving and ‘not nothing’ as you rightly said, but from an infection point of view, those two-second pass-bys are many times less risky than if those joggers were sitting together in one spot in the park for a prolonged period, which is also many times less of a present danger than what we see still happening now : people congregating indoors with no masks. So, felt it was a bit of a bum note her choosing the lesser of many evils to highlight.
It would be a more appropriate message for the people who still don’t wear masks indoors, sure, but this isn’t exactly the celebrity who’s going to reach those people. I dunno.
Wife and I decided to take the little one and our dog for a walk in a nearby local park. It was a Tuesday and we both happened to be off work, so I assumed we’d have the place to ourselves. On the contrary, it was fucking packed with walkers, joggers, and cyclists — only about half of which were wearing masks. And I get it that you’re not going to wear a mask while jogging or cycling when no one is near you. But with so many people crisscrossing on the trails, especially with the heavy breathing that comes with exercising…
The “highlight” of the excursion was when we were working our way up the steepest and narrowest part of the trail and heard a bell directly behind us. A woman was pushing her bike up the path and brushed by us, breathing heavy, no mask. As politely as I could muster, I said “you should probably be wearing mask.” Of course, she freaked the fuck out on us.
I did see some joggers and cyclists who were making an effort to mask up when they were nearing crowds and other people, and I appreciated that. And if they can make the effort, I don’t see whey everyone can. Unless, you know, they’re self-centered assholes who lack any common-sense.
Every park is crowded from dawn way past dusk where we are. Nobody can socialize indoors, so here we are. Chasing offspring, I climbed a hill covered with 20-somethings on picnic blankets. Must have been 60 people, maybe 10 masks.
I’ve avoided going out a lot because of this. Even in more careful parts of the US—the NY area now, where I am—we’re still prone to maximize liberty and individuals. It’s only recently that the NY state mandate became wear a mask indoors and previously it was wear a mask indoors when you can’t social distance. But it’s a crowded city, and counting on people’s attention—even well meaning people—seems like a fool’s errand. It’s kind of like asking people to wear a seatbelt when they think they’re going to get into an accident instead of every time you’re in a car.I’m also reminded of a study that showed that a hospital with reminders to wash hands had fewer secondary infections than those that didn’t. It’s not that doctors and nurses don’t know that washing hands is good practice, it’s that everyone slips. In full disclosure I’m more anxious than most, but a little more care and a little less comfort would go a long way right now.
oh wow I’m shocked this bitch claims she was sick with something!
I really let myself think we’d heard the last of “Lena Dunham talks”
Yeah it seemed like she mostly disappeared and I kinda hoped she’d been relegated to the dustbin of ‘I Love the 2010s’-type nostalgia dross.
Too bad Lena got Covid….I WISH IT WERE CANCER!A joke, to lighten the mood.
I remember when she wished she’d had an abortion because she thought it would make her a better feminist( or something?), so maybe this was a karmic gift being given.
I would not mind it if she were called “Rapist Defender Lena Dunham” for all time.
I mean I try not to be a vindictive person (operative word being “try”) but god that incident was just horrible.
Never thought I would have found myself rooting for a virus.
Seriously. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.
Finally! The wealthy white woman perspective!
Nice try, liberals but you won’t catch me believing in this crazy Hollywood shit. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m about to head to the strip mall where my church and demon-semen extraction doctor is conveniently located.
my gut reaction is to be snarky, but this sucks and the more people who talk about it the more people…will probably triple down that it’s fake or no big deal.
I can officially say something nice about Lena Dunham – I’m glad she didn’t die from COVID-19.
Don’t give this rapist the oxygen of exposure.
seconded. Notify me when the child rapist is in prison or dead; not interested in any other news pertaining to her
Would anyone really be shocked if it turned out Lena Dunham made this up?
STOP GIVING HER A PLATFORM SHE DOES NOT DESERVE.
as with most opinions in America today, how will this “move the needle” in terms of getting people to start wearing the fucking masks and stop bitching about being oppressed? The only people who might be able to convince people of this ilk with a story like this are Hannity or someone like him, but they’d never do it (because that would be admitting the libtards were right) and the non-mask wearing “patriots” would just assume the virus had left them temporarily brain-damaged.
One of the only good things about 2020 is I had forgotten that Lena Dunham even existed and now you had to go and ruin that for me… Thanks!