Analyzing Lena Dunham, Creator Of HBO’s “Girls.”

at the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards Arrivals, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA 01-12-14

Actress & Writer Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham will be honored at Variety’s Power of Women luncheon on April 24 for her work with Girls Educational & Mentoring Services. She joins a stellar group of women who stand up for worthy causes. Joining her at the table: Glen Close, Whoopi Goldberg, Kim Kardashian and Rachel Weisz.

You might recognize the 28-year-old actress from the hit HBO series “Girls,” created by the woman herself after finding success with her independent film “Tiny Furniture.” She’s a creator, writer, director, producer and actress extraordinaire, and her success is blowing up right now.

Who’s that Girl?

Currently, Dunham is coming off two Golden Globe wins, eight Emmy nods, and a Directors Guild Award. Her New York Times Bestselling book, “Not That Kind of Girl,” has received global praise for its wit, wisdom and realistic storytelling.

Everything seemed so enchanting for this tell-it-like-it-is Millennial… until March 27, when social media started wigging out about a New Yorker magazine piece she wrote, “Dog or Jewish Boyfriend, A Quiz.” The honest-to-a-fault actress is being called anti-Semitic in her attempt at humor as she asks readers to guess if she’s talking about her dog or her Jewish boyfriend. Apparently, it’s a question of political correctness if that even exists anymore. Just a quick note on that: Dunham is half-Jewish and had a bat mitzvah. You decide. Dunham has made no comment.

Behind the Scenes

Something the self-reliant actress has been very vocal about is her mental illness. She was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when she was 11. She grew up in New York City in the alternative artsy scene and has always found herself most comfortable with adults, even at the age of six. With her disease, she constantly worries about everything and has since she was five years old. She worries about her toothbrush being in the right spot and will move it 64 times to get it so. She has always been aware it’s OCD but never had a chance to grow up in a carefree way.

With time and medication, Dunham has a taken control of the illness (as much as she can) and feels it’s her responsibility to talk openly about it in hopes that people understand the suffering that happens, and she also want to help those who suffer.

“Where I’m at with mental health issues is that I’ve personally never felt better because I’m allowed to have these incredible outlets to talk about what I’m feeling. I have amazing resources and I have great insurance, you know what I mean. I feel like I have the luckiest possible situation a person with my particular temperament could be in and so I feel lucky. It’s my responsibility, being a person who has gone through that, to talk about it in an open way. In talking about mental health, we still have much farther to go,” said Dunham during an interview with The National.

What’s Next?

Life isn’t so bad. Dunham runs with the ‘coolest girl squads,’ according to Elle magazine. The #girlboss squad is known for being vintage, down-to-earth and professional. She’s also runs in the ‘Taylor Posse’ that includes Swifty, Lorde and Selena Gomez. These are outspoken girls that people love. They are on top of the world right now.

So what’s on the horizon for miss Lena Dunham? Considering she’s been dominating television since 2010 and has been getting awards galore ever since, perhaps it’s time to get back to her roots in film and shoot for the Oscar. With her track record, it’s bound to happen. Check out “Tiny Furniture,” the film that started it all, on Netflix on satellite TV.

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