So sorry! Lena Dunham has been forced to explain herself after comments she made about abortion on her Women of the Hour podcast received major backlash.
The outspoken Girls star said she had never gone through the turmoil of terminating a pregnancy, but wishes she had so that she could better advocate for abortion rights.
She was slammed on Twitter for her comments, with people branding her “offensive” and accusing her of trivializing the procedure.
So on Tuesday, December 20, the 30-year-old took to Instagram to apologize for her words.
“I'm so proud of the medley of voices in the episode. I truly hope a distasteful joke on my part won't diminish the amazing work of all the women who participated,” she wrote. “My words were spoken from a sort of 'delusional girl' persona I often inhabit, a girl who careens between wisdom and ignorance (that's what my TV show is too) and it didn't translate. That's my fault. I would never, ever intentionally trivialize the emotional and physical challenges of terminating a pregnancy.”
She also said: “I take reproductive choice in America more seriously than I take literally anything else, and therefore own full responsibility for any words I speak that don't convey this truth clearly. I know plenty of people will never like a thing that leaves my lips, mea culpas or no, but this apology is for the women who have placed their trust in me. You mean everything to me. My life is and always will be devoted to reproductive justice and freedom.”
Dunham ended her lengthy post by giving a “sizable donation" to abortion funds in New York, Texas and Ohio.
Check out her full podcast above to see what led her to make the controversial comment.