Lena Dunham is reminiscing about her youth, reflecting on the end of her professional and personal relationship with fellow showrunner Jenni Konner, which began when she was just 24 years old.
"I was extremely naive about the fact that when you work with people and your creative and financial futures are intertwined, there are going to be moments where that is in tension with friendship," Lena told The New York Times in an interview published on April 13th. "I wasn't an adult. I still lived with my parents, and I was desperately seeking safety, security, and something that felt unconditional."
However, as the now 39-year-old learned, "business relationships are conditional. They have to be."
"I remember my father saying, 'Not everyone says 'I love you' to everyone they work with and sleep over at their house'," Lena continued. "As a 40-year-old, I can now recognize that I was looking for a different kind of relationship than the one that work can provide."
Lena added that she and Jenni parted ways at a time when she "made a necessary break with everything."
"There was a moment where I broke up with my business partner, I broke up with my partner, I had a hysterectomy, I stepped back from work," explained Lena, who broke up with Jack Antonoff in late 2017 after five years of dating. "I went from full-on to sitting in a back room in my parents' apartment in silence, collaging letters together."
The actress added that at the time, she was not "capable of keeping anything going."
Girls ended in 2017 after six seasons. Though Lena and Jenni initially partnered up again on the show Camping, they announced in 2018 that they had decided to part ways.
"We have had one of the most significant relationships together in our adult lives and we respect each other's choices," the duo shared in a joint statement to The Hollywood Reporter at the time. "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."
And while Jenni hasn't spoken publicly about the fallout, Lena did acknowledge that the decision came after she had entered rehab for misusing benzodiazepines.
"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," Lena explained to The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. "I needed to almost start again and just hear my own voice."
