When Lena Dunham announced her new memoir Famesick, one might have assumed that its title was in reference to the nauseating, feverish experience of celebrity. An ailment that can feel parasitic in nature but really is more akin to Munchausen’s because, well, as Dunham admits early on, don’t these stars bring it on themselves?
The book, published this week, is indeed about that. But it’s also about literal sickness – a med-moir that recounts how Dunham’s rise as the creator and star of HBO’s Girls dovetailed with an onset of ailments including but not limited to: endometriosis; ovarian cysts; migraines; acute colitis; shingles, disordered eating, depression; and a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Medications flow freely across its pages, an open drip of Percocet, Klonopin, Lexapro, Demerol, Oxycontin, and Adderall. There are doctor visits, and a hysterectomy that is followed by some wince-inducing post-op sex.
