Actress, writer and director Lena Dunham, known for her role in the popular HBO show Girls, recently revealed that she was seriously injured after filming an explicit sex scene for the series.
During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the 30-year-old star opened up about the challenges of filming the controversial scenes, which she said were meant to be as real as possible and not to arouse viewers.
Dunham revealed that she had to seek physical therapy after injuring herself while filming one of the scenes for series six.
She explained to Meyers that she had been “really reaching” and had been telling her scene partner that she could do physical things that she was actually unable to do.
The scene in question was the wheelbarrow, which she even demonstrated for Meyers and the audience.
According to Dunham, she woke up the next day in agony and was immobilized by the end of the week.
She said that she was “fairly accident prone” and had experienced several incidents on set, but the sex scene injury was by far the worst.
She explained that she had told her scene partner that she was flexible and a beast and that he wouldn’t hurt her, but this was not the case.
Despite the injury, Dunham assured Meyers that she was doing much better now.
She joked that she was happy to be able to talk about it openly, saying “I think it’s really important to show young women that you can injure yourself during sex just like you can during any other activity.”
Dunham has been open about her struggles with mental health in the past and has previously spoken about the impact that filming sex scenes for Girls had on her.
During an interview with Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert in 2018, she revealed that she had sought therapy after filming the controversial scenes.
In the same interview, Dunham spoke about the importance of portraying sex and intimacy realistically on screen.
She said that it was important to show that sex could be “awkward, funny and weird” and not just glamorous and perfect.
She also talked about the responsibility of filmmakers to make sure that their actors feel safe and comfortable on set.
The final season of Girls is set to debut next year, and spoiler pictures suggest that Dunham’s character Hannah will fall pregnant.
Dunham has been involved in the show as a writer, director, and actor since it first aired in 2012, and it has been praised for its frank portrayal of s–, relationships, and mental health.
Dunham’s frankness about her own experiences with mental health and sex on screen has made her a role model for many young women.
She has been praised for her honesty and bravery in speaking out about topics that are often taboo, and has inspired many to be more open and honest about their own struggles.
