Lena Dunham Tells ‘Seventeen’ Why She’ll Be a Weirdo for Life

Lena Dunham is no stranger to the stranger side of life. The Girls creator admits that she’s been weird for as long as she can remember and has no plans on joining the normal side of life.

The actress penned an essay for Seventeen that details a time in school that made her want to embrace her weirdness, while also encouraging girls to follow their passions without losing their sense of style and individuality. Lena is probably one of the names that come to mind when you think about the alternative side of Hollywood. Regardless of your personal feelings toward her, what she says in the mag is pretty solid advice.

You can read an excerpt from her essay below:

“I was a bona fide weirdo in high school. My best friend was my dad. (Still is.) I wore my yellow rubber clogs every day. I was so obsessed with my pet rabbit that I fed her bananas from my mouth. I was into ’80s pop; hip-hop was cool. I brought a bagel to the party, not beer. No one shoved me into a locker or anything, but they definitely made it clear that no one was crushing on me or even respecting me.

One sad day, I tried an experiment. I put on my most “normal” jeans (flares—it was the early 2000s; skinny jeans hadn’t been invented yet!) and my mother’s tank top (she’s always been hipper than me) and straightened my hair. I applied eyeliner and even padded my bra. When I got to school, no one said much at first, but the girls were looking at me with surprise and maybe even jealousy. When I needed a pencil in math, a hot boy lent me one. ‘Wow,’ his friend whispered. ‘She actually looks regular.’

That snapped me out of it. Regular? Who wants to be regular, especially if it means taking an extra 15 minutes on your hair? Or pretending that you’re not rereading Madame Bovary again or not crazy about your rabbit? If regular means pretending you don’t have passions and style, count me out. It’s not worth the pencil. At school the next day, the yellow clogs were firmly back on my feet.”

The rest of Lena’s essay can be found in the May issue of Seventeen, now on newsstands nationwide!

Photo Credit: Lena Dunham

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