Lena Dunham says no to Photoshop, once and for all

"I don’t recognize my own fucking body anymore. And that’s a problem."

When Lena Dunham didn't recognize herself on a Spanish magazine cover that had been visibly edited, she decided enough was enough. No more Photoshop.

Dunham stumbled upon the cover of Tentaciones on Instagram and immediately reposted the image, calling out the magazine in the caption: "This is NOT what my body has ever looked like or will ever look like- the magazine has done more than the average Photoshop."

In a new essay in her Lenny newsletter, Dunham describes her complicated relationship with Photoshop, and a discrepancy wherein she frequently appears nude and natural on her HBO show Girls but allowed retouching for other images.

"The gap between what I believe and what I allow to be done to my image has to close now"

"When my skin seemed almost painted on, when my nose was thin and pointed, I felt grateful for the future Google image search a potential paramour would enjoy," Dunham wrote in the essay. "Considering my commitment to showing my realistic body onscreen, this was a kind of cognitive dissonance I didn’t want to, and couldn’t yet, consider."

Dunham also described feeling beautiful at photo shoots, the $10,000-reward offered for her untouched photos, and the ongoing difficulty of having an "inherently political body."

When no one could tell her how -- or when -  when the Spanish magazine cover was retouched, Dunham said "something snapped."

"The gap between what I believe and what I allow to be done to my image has to close now," she wrote in Lenny. "I respect the people who create those magazines and the job they have to do. I thank them for letting me make a few appearances and for making me feel gorgeous along the way. But I bid farewell to an era when my body was fair game."

She also cited other celebrities who have vocally taken the same stance against Photoshop and retouching:

I’m not the first female actor to express this, to demand a different approach. I’m looking at you, Kate Winslet, Jamie Lee Curtis, Zendaya. Thank you for letting me know that making such a choice or statement was possible. If any magazines want to guarantee they’ll let my stomach roll show and my reddened cheek make an appearance, I am your girl Friday. Anything that will let me be honest with you. But moreover, I want to be honest with me.

Lena Dunham writes, directs and stars in Girls, which is currently in its fifth season on HBO.

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