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HuffPost, Instagram

Lena Dunham Reveals She Has Chronic Disease

Nov 4, 2019  •  Post A Comment

Actress and producer Lena Dunham, who created and starred in the HBO series “Girls,” revealed that she has the chronic disease Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which affects “connective tissues supporting the skin, bones, blood vessels, and many other organs and tissues,” according to the National Institutes of Health.

The Huffington Post notes that singer Sia and actor Jameela Jamil also revealed earlier this year that they had been diagnosed with the condition.

Dunham revealed her condition after paparazzi photos surfaced showing her walking with a cane.

“I could choose to be embarrassed by these paparazzi pics — I mean, that’s probably the point of someone publishing them in the first place — but I’m really not,” she wrote in an Instagram post over the weekend, adding: “But the truth is just: This is what life is like when I’m struggling most with chronic illness. An Ehler-Danlos syndrome flare means that I need support from more than just my friends… so thank you, sweet cane!”

The Huffington Post report adds: “Dunham has been open about her health over the years, regularly giving fans updates on her endometriosis and the total hysterectomy she had in 2017 in hopes of finding relief from the chronic disease.”

Here’s her Intstagram post …

View this post on Instagram

I could choose to be embarrassed by these paparazzi pics- I mean, that’s probably the point of someone publishing them in the first place- but I’m really not. I could lie and say it was an early Halloween look (Don’t you get it? I’m going as a con woman leaving a Florida Keys jail after being acquitted of murdering her husband, and now she’s trying to get disability license plates.) But the truth is just: This is what life is like when I’m struggling most with chronic illness. An Ehler-Danlos syndrome flare means that I need support from more than just my friends… so thank you, sweet cane! For years, I resisted doing anything that would make my physical situation easier, insisting that a cane would “make things weird.” But it’s so much less weird to actually be able to participate than to stay in bed all day. And yes, you'd better believe I'm wearing my nightgown. I was walking four feet to the car to go to the doctor and I wanted to be full cozy. I mean, didn't Bieber wear hotel slippers for like five years? Yeah, so I can wear my glamour nighty for two hours. And then an hour later, I’m in a meeting look tackling the job I love. That’s the two-fold life of a woman with chronic illness; we still rock our dreams and goals and passions (and fashions) and we live many lives in one day. Tell me about your day!

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on

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