Lena Dunham Publishes Apology to Aurora Perrineau

Addresses Murray Miller controversy in 'Hollywood Reporter' column
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 5, 2018 1:15 PM CST
Lena Dunham Publishes Apology to Aurora Perrineau
This combination photo shows actress Aurora Perrineau in Los Angeles on Feb. 17, 2015, left, and actress-writer Lena Dunham in New York on May 29, 2018.   (AP Photo)

Lena Dunham addresses Aurora Perrineau in a new guest column for the Hollywood Reporter in which she also reflects on the #MeToo era and its impact on her as a person who has hid much of her own trauma at the hands of powerful people in Hollywood. Despite having those experiences herself, she admits she "made a terrible mistake" when she publicly defended Girls writer Murray Miller after Perrineau accused him of sexual assault. Miller was "someone I had loved as a brother," Dunham writes, and she "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)." She adds that she "didn't have the 'insider information' I claimed but rather blind faith." She says she has come to regret her actions more than almost anything else in her life.

"To Aurora: You have been on my mind and in my heart every day this year. I love you. I will always love you. I will always work to right that wrong. In that way, you have made me a better woman and a better feminist," Dunham writes, adding that the incident made her realize she had unknowingly "internalized the dominant male agenda" of defending men at any cost. Not everyone was won over; one Twitter commenter noted the "long-delayed and late" apology was "all about [Dunham]" while another added that Dunham "could've apologized to Aurora Perrineau privately and Hollywood Reporter could've spoke to Aurora instead...yet, here we are." The Cut notes that though Dunham has expressed regret in the past, this is her first direct apology to Perrineau, at least publicly. Also Wednesday, Dunham introduced Perrineau's mother at THR's Women in Hollywood event. (Dunham recently opened up—way, way up—for this profile.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X