Lena Dunham has gone on the defensive of accusations that her memoir details her alleged sexual abuse of her sister.
“I am dismayed over the recent interpretation of events described in my book ‘Not That Kind of Girl,'” the actress, said in an exclusive statement to TIME, posted online Tuesday. The statement follows a social media firestorm that erupted after a National Review article described some of Dunham’s interactions at the age of seven with her sister, Grace, as “sexual abuse. . . . the sort of thing that gets children taken away from non-millionaire families without Andover pedigrees and Manhattanite social connections.”
Dunham, 28, tweeted on Saturday she was in a “rage spiral” over such characterizations and criticism but sounded more deliberative in yesterday’s statement, which continued, “I want to be very clear that I do not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances. Childhood sexual abuse is a life-shattering event for so many, and I have been vocal about the rights of survivors. If the situations described in my book have been painful or triggering for people to read, I am sorry, as that was never my intention,” she wrote.
“I am also aware that the comic use of the term “sexual predator” was insensitive, and I’m sorry for that as well. As for my sibling, Grace, she is my best friend, and anything I have written about her has been published with her approval,” she concluded.
