What is Taylor Swift’s new BFF Lena Dunham doing now? The controversial Girls star once dated Jack Antonoff for 5 years – but is she making a new TV show starring Emily Ratajkowski?

Jun 18 , 2024

What has Taylor Swift’s new BFF Lena Dunham been up to since Girls? Photo: @lenadunham/Instagram

Dunham is still close to her ex Antonoff’s long-time collaborator Swift, and was recently seen with Tay Tay’s squad in London; Swift was even a bridesmaid at her wedding to Luis Felber in 2021

The actress was also in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, and American Horror Story: Cult; she’s now in a new film with Stephen Fry, Treasure, which just dropped in UK cinemas

Taylor Swift just debuted her brand-new bestie crew while out and about in London this week. Among other familiar faces was Lena Dunham, the ex-girlfriend of Swift’s long-time collaborator and close friend Jack Antonoff; Antonoff and Dunham’s relationship inspired Swift’s song “You Are in Love”.

Dunham was in the public eye in the 2010s thanks to her HBO show Girls, which was billed as a grittier Sex and the City, but has since wrestled with a series of health issues.

Here’s a refresher on the actress who played Hannah Horvath and what she’s been up to lately:

How did Lena Dunham get famous?

Lena Dunham at the Met Gala in 2017, in New York. Photo: AP

Dunham enjoyed a dramatic rise to fame soon after she debuted with the semi-autobiographical indie film Tiny Furniture in 2010 – which also stars her friend and later Girls co-star Jemima Kirke. Her success came most prominently from the HBO television series, which she created, wrote, partly directed, and starred in. The show also won her several Emmy nominations, two Golden Globe awards, critical acclaim and accolades. While Girls did face backlash and criticism for its lack of racial diversity and class consciousness, it remained a commercial success nonetheless.

What other films and TV shows has Lena Dunham worked on?

After Girls ended, Dunham notably starred in American Horror Story: Cult. In 2019, she acted in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood – but since then, she has stayed relatively out of the public eye.

Dunham was an executive producer for episode one of HBO’s Industry and later Genera+ion – cancelled after one season – whilst taking on small roles in The Stand In (2020) and Sia’s Music (2021). In 2022, Dunham wrote two films called Sharp Stick, and Catherine Called Birdy, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Her health battles

Lena Dunham and long-time Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff dated for five years. Photo: @lenadunham/Instagram

In 2018, at 31 years old, Dunham got a hysterectomy after battling endometriosis for 10 years. That year, Dunham also went into rehab for her addiction to benzodiazepines.