Lena Dunham knows she was a "weirdo" and is proud of it. The "Girls" creator, writer, producer and star penned an essay in the May issue of Seventeen magazine about defying normalcy in high school and how she's since embraced being different.
Dunham opens her essay admitting she was a "bona fide weirdo in high school" who wore yellow clogs and brought bagels to parties, which is far from surprising for anyone who watches HBO's "Girls." Dunham writes that one day she experimented by dressing more "normal" and wearing makeup. She recounts that a "hot boy" lent her a pencil in class that day. "'Wow,' his friend whispered," Dunham writes. "'She actually looks regular.'"
But then Dunham realized what she didn't want to be, writing, "Who wants to be regular, especially if it means taking an extra 15 minutes on your hair? [...] If regular means pretending you don't have passions and style, count me out." Dunham goes on to encourage her readers to embrace being different and to not let negative criticism affect them.
Let's not forget that the writer has long been the target of criticism, for everything from her nudity on "Girls" to her sketches on "SNL" to her personal tweets. While deleting Twitter from her phone earlier this year was one response, Dunham writes in Seventeen to just "ignore" the criticism that's not constructive. "You don't need anyone telling you what your style, substance, or happiness should look like."
For the full essay, head over to Seventeen.com. The May issue is available on newsstands now.
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