How many more times does Lena Dunham have to tell us to stop talking about her weight before we’ll listen?
If you follow her on social media, you know she doesn’t think losing a few pounds is worthy of a compliment or indicative of any particular achievement. “Weight loss isn’t a triumph and it also isn’t some sign I’ve finally given in to the voices of trolls,” she wrote a couple months ago, praising a Refinery 29 for its impassioned plea to put the brakes on all the body talk.
Apparently Us Weekly missed the memo. A recent cover of the celebrity news magazine placed a paparazzi shot of Dunham beside the headline “20 Slimdown Diet Tips Stars Are Using.”
Dunham wasn’t impressed, and the famously outspoken Girls star let everyone know it in an Instagram post. We reached out to Toronto-based dietitian Christy Brissette of 80 Twenty Nutrition for her take on Dunham’s clapback and why it should be commended.
Sharing 20 alternative tips, Dunham cited more realistic contributors to her weight loss. Among them, coping with fear of a dystopian future, channeling quiet rage into marching to keep that future at bay, dealing with violent threats from strangers after her phone number was leaked—oh, and managing symptoms related to several pre-exisiting conditions, including an anxiety disorder and endometriosis.
“I absolutely love her post, and I love the way that she reacted to this headline,” says Brissette. “Rather than just ignoring it, I love that she took this tongue-and-cheek approach and made it humorous. But at the same time, a lot of important subtext underscores what she wrote.”
For Brissette, Dunham’s message that losing weight isn’t always a sign of healthier habits stands out.
“You can’t look at someone and be able to say, ‘Oh, she eats a healthier diet,’ based on her size alone,” says Brissette. “We need to separate our focus from aligning weight loss with being healthy, because that’s not always case.”
Brissette also notes that it’s important Dunham spoke so candidly about her recent health struggles.
“It doesn’t seem like she’d wish any resultant weight loss from her conditions upon anyone,” says Brissette. “Looking at her tips, obviously she’s not pitching ‘getting anxiety disorder’ as a great approach for weight loss. The way that she’s positioned any weight loss in relation to these difficult conditions is important. She’s taking a stand against a headline like this, and using social media in an empowering way—it’s a big deal.”
As for her favourite tip, Brissette loves #19. “It’s perfect. Why is another person’s weight loss considered something that’s newsworthy?”
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