When was Lena Dunham in Rehab? Girls star reveals she began working on a memoir after getting out of the facility

Lena Dunham, the star and creative force behind HBO's Girls, has been open about her health struggles and her path to sobriety. Dunham says one of the biggest turning points in her life was a stay at a cognitive-behavioral therapy rehab facility in 2018 for an addiction to prescription drugs.

She calls rehab "one of the hardest parts of adulthood," but it was also, for Dunham, the beginning of a path to stability, recovery and possible creative endeavors.

"I’ve been through a lot of hard things in my adulthood. Getting off Klonopin was probably the hardest. If I know that I’m a person who can go too far in a time of psychological stress, then why not eliminate that possibility?" Lena Dunham told the Hollywood Reporter in a 2022 interview.

In 2018, Dunham went to a treatment facility to treat a dependency on Klonopin, a prescription medication used to treat anxiety and seizures. The actress explained that the withdrawal process was excruciating and getting off Klonopin was “probably the hardest thing” she had ever been through.

Lena Dunham recently stated that she began writing her new memoir right after leaving rehab. Announcing the book in September 2025, Dunham explained that she started writing when she was just 30 days into her sobriety. She described that first month and the world being "so loud" and that her sensitivity level was so high.

Lena Dunham’s new memoir ‘FAMESICK’ will be published on April 2026.

“Tracking her rise to fame—from selling the pilot of ‘Girls’ to the present—in three acts, it becomes clear that the spotlight casts long shadows, distorting the relationships she once held dear.” pic.twitter.com/M6mNiZAYoG

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 5, 2025

The memoir is called Famesick and is set to release in April 2026. It will encompass information about a decade in Dunham's life between 2010 and 2020, which she says included some incredible experiences as well as some deep personal struggles.

In addition to discussing the peak of her career, Lena Dunham wants to share her journey of her illness, addiction, heartbreak, and what she learned along the way.

A look into Lena Dunham’s rehab journey

Almost eight years sober, Dunham said sobriety feels like the "right thing" for her, just as her choice to be a vegetarian. In July 2025, in a podcast, she stated her choice is a personal one and not something she wants others to do.

"The way I feel about being sober is the same way I feel about being a vegetarian, which is like, it’s the right thing for me... If you wanna eat meat around me, if you wanna get drunk, it’s all good. But for me and for the clarity that I need to live my life, for my health, for my particular way of moving through the world, it’s the right thing for me," she said on the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast.

The actress highlighted how sobriety allows her to deal with anxiety and chronic pain without the use of substances. Removing the “escape hatch” that would give her through drug or alcohol use allows her to focus on the balance and clarity of her day-to-day.

As of 2019, she had publicly revealed that she too was living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is a chronic condition that is painful in the joints and affects connective tissue. The combination of chronic pain, anxiety, and substance dependency all played a part in the situation that led her to treatment.

During the withdrawal process, Lena Dunham was concerned about how addiction would reconfigure her professional and personal life, but she has since spoken about how being sober has provided the pathway to keep moving onward.