Lena Dunham has cancelled her upcoming Lenny tour, where she had plans to take her popular newsletter on the road with guests Sasheer Zamata from Saturday Night Live, Katie Crutchfield (better known as Waxahatchee), author Chloe Caldwell, writer Jenny Zhang, author Kaitlyn Greenidge, and comedian Jaqueline Novak, among others. The Girls creator cited health concerns, which she further explained in today’s edition of the newsletter.
“My body, which I’ve worked through all kinds of pain for many years, just doesn’t have what it takes to do this tour,” she explained. “Lenny is about giving 100 percent of ourselves, 100 percent of the time, and I couldn’t bear to limp through this.”
“To be perfectly honest, I’m in the greatest amount of physical pain that I have ever experienced,” she continued. “After being told I was endometriosis-free after my last procedure, more disease was found in deeper spots that required immediate surgery and now physical therapy. This disease is wily and unrelenting, and I’m really blessed to have a community, both online and IRL, who let me express how hard that is. Inspired by you, I’m gonna say ‘Eff you’ to embarrassment and walk the walk of a woman who really takes care of herself. My goals have to be simplified for this moment: to write and to heal.”
Dunham has been open about her struggles with endometriosis. She recently posted an Instagram stating that she had undergone surgery to remove the disease and advocated for the importance of Planned Parenthood – which is under threat to be defunded if the new Health Care Act is passed into law.
All six dates of the tour have been cancelled, with refunds promised. In the meantime, Dunham said, “I encourage you all to gather your girls for evenings of dissent and laughter and wine and analysis and bingeing of Fleabag and Chewing Gum. Holding each other close and giving of ourselves is the most radical thing we can do right now.”
