Lena Dunham's 'struggle' after hysterectomy: 'I had chosen my own health over being able to bear children'

Lena Dunham says advocating for her health during her battle with endometriosis was like making "the hardest Hollywood pitch".

In an interview with The Observer, the American actress, writer and director spoke candidly about her hysterectomy and the pushback she received.

In 2017, the Girls creator collapsed at the Met Gala in New York and was rushed to hospital. She endured five separate operations to ease her severe pain.

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A year later, the then-31-year-old underwent the difficult, life-changing procedure.

"I struggled with this idea, that I had chosen my own health over being able to bear children," she told the media outlet.

"But really it wasn't a choice at all because the person I would have continued to be had I remained in that kind of pain would not have been a person I could really live as.

"It was like the hardest Hollywood pitch I've ever done."

Dunham has used her high-profile to speak openly about her health struggles.

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In February 2018 she wrote an op-ed for Vogue magazine in which she shared childhood memories about her desires for motherhood.

This included stuffing her shirt with hot piles of laundry and marching around her family's living room with wide-smiles.

She was aware of her intense want for a baby. Yet, she also knew her body wasn't.

When her endometriosis pain was at its worse, Dunham admitted herself to hospital, announcing, "I am not leaving until they stop this pain or take my uterus".

"The doctor needs evidence he's operating on someone resolved enough to give consent and never take it back," she wrote.

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"And so, while I am on what is essentially medical-grade heroin to handle the pain (impossibly addictive drugs are obviously not a long-term solution for me), I write a 1000-word essay on why, given the circumstances, I'm sure I can handle losing my uterus before I turn 32."

These days, Dunham has a new outlook on chronic pain, admitting she didn't give it enough credit in her twenties.

"Now I view everything that happened then through a lens of pain – this sort of ozone layer that no one can see around you, that defines your reactions," she says.