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Lena Dunham Writes An Open Letter To The Sexual Assault Accuser She Doubted. Read Her Defense

(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for NBC)

Jena Greene Reporter
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In a strange and unpredictable turn of events, Lena Dunham has acknowledged she made a mistake.

The “Girls” creator wrote an open letter, published in The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday, apologizing to the woman who accused Dunham’s close friend and colleague of sexual assault. (RELATED: Lena Dunham’s New HBO Show Is Reportedly Flaming Hot Garbage)

 

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*THIS IS A PSA ABOUT BEAUTY & JOY* Once a year I go through my clothing so I can donate it or sell it for a good cause (last year was Planned Parenthood. This year will be @seespotrescued.) I am lucky enough to be the recipient of a lot of free stuff, because the horrible irony is the more able you are to afford in this world the more is offered to you. I have had the chance to wear designer “frocks” beyond my wildest dreams and an invitation to show up in some very glamorous places. But as I reflect on what I’ve worn and when I’ve felt the most beautiful, it has absolutely nothing to do with: how lovely my dress is, how thin I am, how obedient my hair is being. It’s completely and totally related to my smile. My joy factor is commensurate to how attractive I feel and how attractive I look has brought me zero joy. When I look at these pictures, I see sequins and satin and fantasy, but I also see moments of true comfort in my skin because I knew I was being of service to the world around me. There are also moments of desolate sadness where I couldn’t crack a smile because I had barely left my bed that day (or had barely left my own spiraling brain. Or barely eaten, which brings on compliments and don’t even get me started on that shit.) Today I wore sweats all around the city and smiled at everyone I knew and didn’t know. It was potent and magical and I’m still figuring out how to readily access that smile, but I know it’s the only beauty tip that has worked #asmileismystyle #worldkindnessday

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You’ll recall, the woman, actress Aurora Perrineau, formally accused scriptwriter Murray Miller of sexual assault in November 2017. She filed a report with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, claiming Miller raped her in 2011. The charges were later dropped due to “the delay in reporting.”

Dunham initially rushed to Miller’s defense, claiming the accusations levied against the former “Girls” writer had to be “misreported,” since she’d worked extensively with him and never had a problem.

Dunham later apologized for her defense of Miller, saying “every person and every feminist should be required to hear her.”

In an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter, Dunham walks almost all of this back entirely and takes full responsibility for her wrongdoing.

“I made a terrible mistake. When someone I knew, someone I had loved as a brother, was accused, I did something inexcusable: I publicly spoke up in his defense,” she writes. “There are few acts I could ever regret more in this life. I didn’t have the ‘insider information’ I claimed but rather blind faith in a story that kept slipping and changing and revealed itself to mean nothing at all. I wanted to feel my workplace and my world were safe, untouched by the outside world (a privilege in and of itself, the privilege of ignoring what hasn’t hurt you) and I claimed that safety at cost to someone else, someone very special.”

So far, neither Perrineau nor Miller has addressed Dunham’s apology, and since charges were dropped more than a year ago, they may just want to move past it.

Still, better late than never, right?

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