Why Lena Dunham disappeared from Hollywood

The former Girls star now largely stays behind the camera, explaining she’s “just not up for having my body dissected again.”

Lena Dunham is putting her mental health first.

The Girls creator, 38, told The New Yorker that her semi-autobiographical Netflix series, Too Much, is currently in post-production — but fans shouldn’t expect to see her on the screen.

Dunham decided it was best to cast Megan Stalter over herself for the lead role due to backlash from body shamers in years past.

“I was not willing to have another experience like what I’d experienced around Girls at this point in my life,” she said in the interview published Tuesday. “Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again.”

Although casting Stalter was an easy choice, Dunham said it was “hard” to “admit” the real reason why she didn’t feel comfortable taking on the role herself.

Dunham’s HBO series Girls was a sensation – but with the acclaim came much scrutiny.

“I used to think that winning meant you just keep doing it and you don’t care what anybody thinks,” she explained. “I forgot that winning is actually just protecting yourself and doing what you need to do to keep making work.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Dunham discussed how society has taken a hit when it comes to body positivity in recent years — partly due to the “new class of Ozempic-thin women.”

“It seems like we had this moment of body positivity, and then every single day it’s like we’re looking around and it’s like our masses are decreasing,” she said.

Too Much is about a thirty-something woman who leaves New York City after a break-up and moves to London, where she falls in love with a musician — similar to her own love story with husband Luis Felber.

Dunham, seen here with Stephen Fry, mostly works behind the scenes nowadays.

Dunham said she avoided casting herself in her upcoming Netflix series.

The rom-com — which is set to premiere next year — features White Lotus actor Will Sharpe, Girls star Andrew Rannells, Emily Ratajkowski and more.

After over a decade in the industry, the Emmy-nominated actress has learned the importance of picking and choosing her projects — which is why she is also no longer part of Mattel’s Polly Pocket movie.

In 2021, it was announced that Dunham would be writing and directing the Lily Collins-lead film following the toy company’s success with Barbie.

However, Dunham recently dropped out after working on the script for three years.

Girls was a huge hit for HBO.

While Dunham still acts, she’s now more prolific as a writer and director. Picture: AFP

“I think Greta [Gerwig] managed this incredible feat [with Barbie], which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta,” Dunham explained.

“And I just — I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it. I don’t think I have that in me. I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make Polly Pocket.”

As for her next project, Dunham said she wants to tackle something “that’s distinctly commercial but also maintains the DNA of what is interesting” to her — which she admits is likely another “romantic comedy.”

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission.