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Lena Dunham Celebrates Sober Milestone
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On April 10, Lena Dunham, the creator of the HBO series Girls, marked a year sober in an Instagram post.
Giving a thumbs up in her Instagram photo, Dunham told her three million followers, “Today I’m in the miraculous position of being one year sober. I’ve done a lot of cool things in this life, but none has brought me the peace, joy and lasting connections of being part of a sober fellowship.”
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“Life is full of problems,” she added, “but the cool thing about this one is that there is a solution: in every city, in many countries, you can find a group of people who are working hard to live sober, accountable lives and want to support you on your quest to do the same.”
Dunham had previously taken the anti-anxiety medication Klonopin, and didn’t realize an addiction was creeping up on her. “I didn’t know I had an issue with drugs for a long time,” she writes, “because they were doctor prescribed, because I was outwardly successful and not a wild in da club party chick. But wouldn’t you say that hurting people you love is an issue? Wouldn’t you say feeling lost and lonely much of the time is an issue?”
Dunham also realized that sobriety doesn’t solve all your problems. “Life is still challenging,” she continues. “That’s the nature of the game. But every day I am surprised by the richness and depth of, well, reality. I don’t need to escape this beautiful carnival. Instead, I’m on the ride.”
Dunham ended her post by telling the world, “Please remember you are never too far gone, too broken or too unique. There are people in plain sight waiting to help you. Let’s do this.”
Dunham had previously confessed her struggles with Klonopin on the Dax Shepard podcast Armchair Expert when she hit her six-month sober mark. “My particular passion was Klonopin,” she explained. She started taking the medication when she was battling severe anxiety, but then she was taking it more and more often.
"It stopped being ‘I take one when I fly,’ to ‘I take one when I’m awake.' I didn’t have any trouble getting a doctor to tell me, ‘No you have serious anxiety issues, you should be taking this. This is how you should be existing.’”
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In addition to contributing for The Fix, David Konow has also written for Esquire, Deadline, LA Weekly, Village Voice, The Wrap, and many other publications and websites. He is also the author of the three decade history of heavy metal, Bang Your Head (Three Rivers Press), and the horror film history Reel Terror (St Martins Press). Find David on LinkedIn and Facebook.
