Lena Dunham is bidding photoshop adieu.
As a consistent champion for body confidence, the 29-year-old Girls creator has been vocal against Photoshopped images of herself circulating in the media.
Whether it be her 2014 Vogue cover or the most recent issue of Tentaciones, glossy photos of the actress—who often appears nude in scenes for the HBO hit show—have been repeatedly called into question for evoking thinner, more defined and overall "perfected" versions of the Golden Globe nominee. After years of publicity, she's had it with the photographic manipulation.
"[I am] not done with getting my picture taken (once an insufferable ham, always an insufferable ham) but done with allowing images that retouch and reconfigure my face and body to be released into the world," she wrote in the newest issue of her newsletter Lenny Letter released Tuesday. "The gap between what I believe and what I allow to be done to my image has to close now. If that means no more fashion-magazine covers, so be it."
The Tentaciones March cover was the tipping point for Dunham. While the magazine explained that the 2013 photo of the star standing in a mod-inspired swing dress with one arm draped over her head "was previously approved by the agency, the photographer and your publicist," as the magazine responded, the actress realized it wasn't this one particular photo that was the cause for concern—it was a deep-rooted issue with "society at large."
"Something snapped when I saw that Spanish cover," she continued in the newsletter. "Maybe it was the feeling of barely recognizing myself and then being told it was 100 percent me but knowing it probably wasn't and studying the picture closely for clues. Maybe it was realizing that was an image I had at some point seen, approved, and most likely loved. Maybe it was the fact that I no longer understand what my own thighs look like."
After years of success in Hollywood, the Emmy nominee accepts a level of responsibility for not speaking out sooner.
"[I] heard photographers say 'We'll fix it in post' and known on some level that they don't just mean the odd shadow or wrinkle in my skirt. They mean the parts of me that are ungainly and overstuffed. They mean the parts that hang over waistbands and bubble out from under Spanx. The parts that are too much and are evidence of wanting too much, of unappealing hungers," she wrote. "But, I didn't ask questions, assuming this was the game that made the rest of my creative life possible. I also didn't ask questions because it feels nice to look at a photo of yourself where everything that's ever felt like too much is suddenly under perfect, glossy control."
Those days are over. Dunham has decided to put an end to the illusion once and for all.
"I respect the people who create those magazines and the job they have to do. I thank them for letting me make a few appearances and for making me feel gorgeous along the way. But I bid farewell to an era when my body was fair game," she added.
"This body is the only one I have. I love it for what it's given me. I hate it for what it's denied me. And now, without further ado, I want to be able to pick my own thigh out of a lineup."