Lena Dunham admitted her privilege helped her find success in Hollywood.
The ‘Girls’ star was just 23 years old when HBO commissioned her hit comedy – which she created, wrote, directed and starred in while acting as executive producer – and she admitted her "career took off at a young age with relative ease" as she responded to backlash on social media.
In a series of tweets, she wrote: "Whenever I found out I’m trending, I have to immediately check if I’m alive! Then, I try and see if there’s a constructive dialogue to have on Twitter. Often there isn’t, but today there really WAS.
"It actually wasn’t a dialogue – it was just me agreeing that the Hollywood system is rigged in favour of white people and that my career took off at a young age with relative ease, ease I wasn’t able to recognise because I also didn’t know what privilege was."
Lena, now 34, insisted she has learned a lot of lessons over the past decade, and she opened up on what she needs to do now to help bring about change.
She added: "The past ten years have been a series of lessons. The lesson now? Sit down. Shut up, unless it’s to advocate for change for Black people.
"Listen. Make art in private for awhile- no one needs your book right now lady. Give reparations widely. Defund the police. Rinse & repeat. (sic)"
The actress was responding after critics on social media brought up a past interview with The Hollywood Reporter in which she opened up about her lack of preparation and development when she signed with HBO for ‘Girls’, while others pointed to her family’s wealth.
Discussing her pitch to HBO – which she described as the worst "you’ve ever read" – Lena admitted she didn’t even go into characters or a plot.
She previously said: "I wrote HBO this one sheet. It was like a tone poem about millennial life. It doesn’t mention a character, doesn’t mention a plot. "’They’re everything, they’re nothing, they’re everywhere, they’re nowhere.’
"I mean, it’s the worst pitch you’ve ever read — pretentious and horrifying — but I remember writing it, sitting on the floor listening to Tegan and Sara in my underwear, being like, ‘I’m a genius.’ "