Jose Perez/Splash NewsLena Dunham is over over-apologizing.
In an essay titled "Sorry, Not Sorry: My Apology Addiction," posted on LinkedIn Wednesday, the 30-year-old Girls creator and star talks about breaking a habit of apologizing excessively.
"Beyoncé's Lemonade was a massive cultural event for a lot of profound reasons, not least of which because it gave women a melody to which they could sing the words 'Sorry, I ain't sorry,' again and again (and again)," Dunham wrote, referring to a song on the singer's new album. "This refrain...allowed women to express (safely, while pretending with all their might to be Bey) just how sick to death they were of apologizing."
"I say sorry all day, which doesn't make sense considering I'm not a warlord, a drunk driver, or a pizza delivery guy speeding down 6th Avenue on a fixed gear bike scaring the s--t out of pedestrians," she added. "I am a woman who is sometimes right, sometimes wrong but somehow always sorry. And this has never been more clear to me than in the six years since I became a boss."
She said her father challenged her to not apologize to anyone for a week.
"But what do you replace sorry with? Well for starters, you can replace it with an actual expression of your needs and desires," she wrote. "When I replaced apologies with more fully formed and honest sentiments, a world of communication possibilities opened up to me."
Dunham has apologized publicly over several comments many have deemed controversial.
In 2014, Dunham made headlines over accusations that she molested her younger sister Grace when they were children, which is how many people interpreted an event she described in her book Not That Kind of Girl. The actress and writer said in a statement she does "not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances," adding, "If the situations described in my book have been painful or triggering for people to read, I am sorry, as that was never my intention."
She also apologized for using the term "sexual predator" in a comical way in the book.
Also in 2014, Dunham drew controversy for making a molestation joke on Twitter and later apologized for it.
Last September, she caught heat for saying in an interview, "I used to read Gawker and Jezebel in college and be like, 'I can't wait to get to New York where my people will be to welcome me.' And it's like, it's literally, if I read it, it's like going back to a husband who beat me in the face—it just doesn't make any sense."
Dunham later apologized, saying she "wasn't making a joke about domestic violence" but was rather "over-emphatic" in her attempt to "capture how damaging the Internet can be."
In her essay, Dunham said she is "not negating the power of a real apology, especially in the workplace."
"One of the most important things a person in charge can do is own their mistakes and apologize sincerely and specifically, in a way that shows their colleagues they have learned and they will do better (I'll try, OK!?)" she added.