Who was Lena Dunham’s sister? Child abuse controversy explained as actress’s memoir slammed over resurfacing scandal

The Girls showrunner, Lena Dunham, recently announced her new memoir, Famesick, set to arrive in April next year. Talking about her book, the author wrote on Instagram: 

"The gift this book has given me over the last seven years was that it was always there. No matter what changed — my location, my body, my mind — there was a constant: this place I could go to try and make sense of the story." 

The actress-writer shared selfies with the cover of her upcoming book, which explores a decade of her life between 2010 and 2020. The announcement was also followed by a section of internet users slamming the author for the child abuse controversy that erupted following the release of Not That Kind of Girl in 2014. 

In her first memoir, Lena Dunham recounted a childhood moment with her toddler sister, which later sparked abuse allegations. For clarity, the sibling in question—then referred to as her sister—is writer and actor Cyrus Grace Dunham. They now identify as transmasculine non-binary and were previously named Grace. 

Cyrus also authored a memoir titled A Year Without a Name in 2019. The book explores their gender identity and personal journey, while contemplating decisions like transition and coming out to family. A Year Without a Name was critically acclaimed and was among the 2020 Lambda Literary Award finalists. 

According to their IMDb, Cyrus has also appeared in two episodes of Girls Season 5, written by their sister Lena. 

More about Lena Dunham’s child abuse controversy stemming from her 2014 memoir

And by the way, if you were a little kid and never looked at another little kid's vagina, well, congrats to you.

— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 1, 2014

Not That Kind of Girl was a commercial success and became one of The New York Times' Best Sellers at the time. However, a particular mention of Dunham’s childhood interactions with Cyrus, a toddler then, sparked a controversy. 

The author, seven at the time, recalled looking at their younger siblings' genitals and joking about behaving like a predator by offering them gifts in exchange for kisses. According to The Guardian,  Lena wrote about persuading her sibling to “kiss her on the lips for five seconds” and recounted: 

“Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl, I was trying” 

Per The Guardian, Lena Dunham’s memoir got slammed by right-wing and conservative critics, who equated her actions to child abuse. Kevin Williamson, who was a columnist for National Review, was among the people who accused the Camping creator and called her parents enablers. 

Lena hit back at the right-leaning critics and wrote on X (formerly Twitter): 

“The right-wing news story that I molested my little sister isn’t just LOL – it’s really f**king upsetting and disgusting.”

She wrote in another tweet: 

“And by the way, if you were a little kid and never looked at another little kid’s vagina, well, congrats to you”

Lena Dunham continued in other posts and tweeted: 

“Usually this is stuff I can ignore but don’t demean sufferers, don’t twist my words, back the f*** up bros.” 

However, Lena later apologized after many criticized her for phrasing herself as a predator. In an article published in Time, Dunham wrote: 

“I am dismayed over the recent interpretation of events described in my book Not That Kind of Girl.” 

Lena added that she doesn’t “condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances” and described the use of the phrase “sexual predator” as insensitive. Dunham also described her sibling as her best friend and revealed that anything she wrote was published with their approval. 

According to The Guardian, Cyrus also defended their sister on X. In a now-deleted tweet, they wrote about being “committed to people narrating their own experiences, determining for themselves what has and has not been harmful.”