Lena Dunham On Weight-Loss Backlash: 'You Just Can't Win'

Lena Dunham has faced harsh backlash this week for her recent weight loss – but she was quick to hit back at this body-shaming nonsense during her Wednesday, March 22nd appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The Girls star was promoting her show's final season when DeGeneres told her "you always look great." The talk show host then addressed the critics who have spoken out since her guest revealed her slimmer figure: "I know you got a lot of flak for losing weight, which is ridiculous. What were they saying?"

"Well, it's just so crazy because I spent six years of my career being called things like 'bag of milk' on the internet, you know, 'baby cow,' 'aging cow.' I just never felt self-conscious about it," Dunham replied (via Us Weekly). Since Girls, which she also created, produced, and wrote, premiered in 2012, Dunham's appearance has indeed often been made subject to negative criticism; however, she added, "anyone who's going to take the time to say something negative about my weight on the internet wasn't someone I was particularly keen to impress anyway."

Dunham continued, "I had this experience of my body changing and suddenly I got all these people being like, 'You're a hypocrite, I thought you were body positive. I thought you were a person who embraced bodies of all sizes,' and I was like, 'I do, I just also understand that bodies change, we live a long time, things happen.'" In calling out the hypocrisy of it all, she admitted, "I was frustrated by it because it really was evidence that as a woman in Hollywood, you just can't win."

The writer-actor also slammed people's obsession with her weight on Instagram on March 16th, stating, "I feel I've made it pretty clear over the years that I don't give even the tiniest of sh*ts what anyone else feels about my body...I smile just as wide no matter my current size because I'm proud of what this body has seen and done and represented...Because my body belongs to ME."

Well said, Lena!