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Lena Dunham was just 23 when she sold Girls<\/em> to HBO<\/a>. She was 25 when it first aired. The show\u2019s success is now TV lore: Over the course of its six seasons, it won Emmys and Golden Globes and created a new, more realistic blueprint for onscreen portrayals of womanhood. The four twentysomethings at the heart of the show (Dunham starred as one of them) were frequently selfish, broke, and making terrible decisions\u2014and yet we, as viewers, still cared about them. Dunham\u2019s storytelling paved the way for a new era of frank, character-driven TV shows created by women, such as Fleabag<\/em>, Insecure<\/em>, and, more recently, Rachel Sennott\u2019s I Love LA<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a remarkable trajectory and yet, Dunham spent a lot of this era (Girls<\/em> launched in 2012 and ran until 2017) being vilified by the media and the public. It\u2019s a subject that she unravels in her new memoir, Famesick<\/em>, which came out earlier this week. Strangers frequently contacted her online, she writes, to comment on her \u201cbad body, irritating voice, clearly horrific politics, inability to walk in heels, poor sense of style, and the fact that anyone\u2014literally anyone\u2014was more deserving of all of this than I was.\u201d Once Girls <\/em>ended, Dunham largely withdrew from the spotlight and moved to England, where she says she enjoys greater anonymity than she does in the U.S.<\/p>\n You might wonder, then, why she has chosen to release a tell-all book revisiting a time where she felt so exposed. On Tuesday evening, I saw Dunham speak in Brooklyn to an audience of largely millennial women. It was clear that being compulsively open remains a big part of who she is, regardless of the consequences. Additionally, she hopes that retelling her experience will raise questions about why, at a time when our society is reckoning with its past, sexist treatment of female celebrities such as Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, young women in the entertainment industry are still judged so much more harshly than their male counterparts.<\/p>\n She spoke at length about the chronic illnesses that she suffers from. These include endometriosis, POTS (a disorder of the autonomic nervous system), and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (a tissue disorder that causes joint pain, dislocations, and fatigue). While working on Girls<\/em>, she hid her health struggles from everyone around her, for fear that people would question her ability to do her job if they found out. \u201cI was afraid about all of it, and I was so afraid, I was trying to cover it up,\u201d she said. Eventually, she ended up in rehab with a prescription drug addiction. \u201cI was chronically ill and<\/em> I went to rehab. That is two points off.\u201d<\/p>\n In Famesick<\/em>, Dunham alleges that her Girls <\/em>co-star, Adam Driver, threw a chair in her direction when she forgot her lines one day in rehearsals. At other times, she says that he spat and hissed at her. Driver is now a bonafide Hollywood leading man, with credits including the Star Wars<\/em> franchise and an Oscar-nominated turn opposite Scarlett Johansson in the 2019 film Marriage Story<\/em>. He is unquestionably a great actor. At the same time, it will be interesting to see if Dunham\u2019s allegations lead to any repercussions for him in terms of public perception. Imagine if Dunham was the one who threw a chair. Something tells me it would not be easily forgotten.<\/p>\n Whatever you think of Dunham and her work, she is a unique talent who changed the landscape of television. She was held to an impossible standard and she did not get everything right along the way (does anyone?). Girls<\/em> was a hit, in part, because it showed that being flawed and complicated doesn\u2019t make you a terrible person, and yet, we didn\u2019t extend this generosity to its creator. Let\u2019s hope that we treat the young female writers and directors who come after her better.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ellie Austin<\/em> The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is<\/em> Fortune\u2019s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Joey Abrams curated today\u2019s edition. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n American Eagle rises on second Sydney Sweeney ad. <\/b>Shares of American Eagle Outfitters <\/span>jumped<\/span><\/a> Wednesday after the retailer unveiled a second ad campaign with actress Sydney Sweeney, this time focused on jean shorts. The first campaign, released last summer, sparked backlash over its “genes\u201d and \u201cjeans” wordplay, with critics arguing it evoked eugenics and elevated a narrow standard of beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n Trump takes aim at Italy\u2019s Meloni. <\/b>“I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” President Donald Trump <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera<\/em> on Wednesday. The comment came a day after Meloni called Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo “unacceptable.”<\/span><\/p>\n Sharapova serves up new podcast. <\/b>Former tennis pro Maria Sharapova is <\/span>launching<\/span><\/a> a podcast with Vox Media focused on conversations with successful women, with guests like actress Zoe Salda\u00f1a and NFL CFO Christine Dorfler set to make appearances. The first episode drops April 22.<\/span><\/p>\n NJ Gov. Sherrill kicks ball back to FIFA on World Cup transportation costs. <\/b>New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill <\/span>argued<\/span><\/a> on X that FIFA should cover a proposed $100 transit fee for fans riding NJ Transit from New York City’s Penn Station to World Cup games at MetLife Stadium. “FIFA should pay for the rides. But if they don’t\u2014I’m not going to let New Jersey get taken for one,” she wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n Justice Jackson chides Supreme Court conservatives over \u2018oblivious\u2019 pro-Trump emergency orders<\/b> AP<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n A journalist filmed an ICE protest at a Minnesota church. Then federal agents showed up at her door<\/b> The Guardian<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Nobody says no to Hailey Bieber <\/b>Interview<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n
ellie.austin@fortune.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nALSO IN THE HEADLINES<\/h3>\n
ON MY RADAR<\/h3>\n
PARTING WORDS<\/h3>\n