Lena Dunham is opening up about life with a chronic illness.
The “Girls” alum, 33, took to Instagram recently to address a recent paparazzi picture of herself in pajamas holding a cane after leaving a doctor’s appointment in Los Angeles.
“The truth is just: This is what life is like when I’m struggling most with chronic illness. An Ehler-Danlos syndrome flare means that I need support from more than just my friends… so thank you, sweet cane!” she captioned the paparazzi picture.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on
According to Mayo Clinic, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is “a group of inherited disorders that affect your connective tissues,” including the skin, joints and blood vessel walls. People with the syndrome usually have “overly flexible joints and stretchy, fragile skin. This can become a problem if you have a wound that requires stitches, because the skin often isn’t strong enough to hold them.”
Dunham said she chose to unapologetically speak her truth, rather than cower in fear.
“I could lie and say it was an early Halloween look,” the actress said. ”I could choose to be embarrassed by these paparazzi pics- I mean, that’s probably the point of someone publishing them in the first place- but I’m really not.”
Instead, Dunham decided to celebrate a personal victory, noting she historically had shunned the idea of using a cane for extra assistance.
“For years, I resisted doing anything that would make my physical situation easier, insisting that a cane would ‘make things weird,’” she added. “But it’s so much less weird to actually be able to participate than to stay in bed all day.”
As for wearing her nightgown out of the house? “I was walking four feet to the car to go to the doctor and I wanted to be full cozy. I mean, didn’t [Justin] Bieber wear hotel slippers for like five years? Yeah, so I can wear my glamour nighty for two hours,” Dunham said.
She shared another picture of herself confidently posing in a blue two-piece ensemble later that day.
“And then an hour later, I’m in a meeting look tackling the job I love,” she wrote. ”That’s the two-fold life of a woman with chronic illness; we still rock our dreams and goals and passions [and fashions] and we live many lives in one day.”
Dunham is the second star to come forward with an Ehlers-Danlos syndrome diagnosis this month following Sia’s health revelation in October.
“Hey, I’m suffering with chronic pain, a neurological disease, ehlers danlos and I just wanted to say to those of you suffering from pain, whether physical or emotional, I love you, keep going,” the singer tweeted on Oct 4. ”Life is [expletive] hard. Pain is demoralizing, and you’re not alone.”
Read more at usatoday.com.
