Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff have broken up. They were together for over 5 years. Their reps confirmed to PEOPLE last night that it’s over and that the breakup was “amicable.”
E! News says that the split happened in December because they “were growing apart and it just made sense for them to end their relationship where it was." The number one thing we talk about when we talk about celebrity breakups is timing. The breakup happened a month ago but we’re conveniently hearing about it now. Earlier today I wrote about Tessa Thompson gloriously exposing Lena Dunham’s attempt to co-opt the Time’s Up movement. Now, we’re talking about her breakup. As Lainey would say, coincidence or conspiracy?
The coincidence explanation could be that the news coincides with the Tessa Thompson controversy simply because Lena Dunham had to clarify her absence from Time’s Up and that is directly related to her relationship status. Or that she was seen at the Golden Globes after parties solo on Sunday night so the timing is a reflection of Lena’s reemergence on the social scene. If you’re in the conspiracy camp, you’d say that Tessa’s comment was posted yesterday around 4pm. Duana took a screengrab of it at 8:33pm so it was still there at that time. The PEOPLE article was posted at 8:30pm yesterday. Lena’s IndieWire statement which cites “highly personal reasons” for Lena’s lack of involvement in Time’s Up went up at 9:17pm. Again, I ask, coincidence or conspiracy?
Usually, I try to empathize with anyone going through a breakup. A lot of the time, breakups take courage and they are really f-cking hard. After five years, you’ve built a life together. You pay bills together. You co-own stuff. My partner and I just bought a new couch and I thought this morning that if we broke up, I’d be devastated. Mainly about the couch. Anyway, my point is that yes, this must be a tough period for Lena Dunham but I have a hard time sympathizing with someone who has continually shown to have little empathy for anyone other than herself. I’m also having a hard time getting past the theory that Lena leaked this news to distract from Tessa Thompson’s callout. I also can’t feel bad for Lena when she’s the one who tried to take credit for a movement she had nothing to do with and Tessa’s the one who took some heat and had to release a statement of clarification. UGH. She can’t even break up without being problematic.
I’m just going to lean into my petty here but do you think Jack Antonoff got tired of all of the things about Lena Dunham we’re all tired of? In an essay for Variety in October, Lena wrote an essay about Jack where she said, “He showed me the importance of making political statements using your public platform.” Insert hand-on-chin-thinking-face emoji. I have a friend who is predicting, based on nothing but a hunch, that Jack will move on to Lorde. Imagine the Taylor Swift-related gossip possibilities!
Finally, here’s what Lena posted on Instagram earlier today.
So, today, we learned that Lena is the kid you don’t want to work with on group projects and she’s also your annoying friend who posts her feelings through cheesy quotes on Instagram.
