- Lena Dunham just posted an Instagram of a new tattoo on her neck.
- The ink spells out the word "sick" using a rope as the lettering.
- Lena said the tattoo is her way of owning what other people have been labeling her.
For Lena Dunham, facing her fears head-on also means putting her neck on the line—literally.
In a new Instagram photo, the Girls creator and star showed off a brand-new tattoo on the back of her neck—the word "sick" etched out in a rope pattern—and revealed what the eyebrow-raising ink means to her.
"Sometimes the thing you’re most scared of being called is the best thing you can call yourself," she wrote. "Thank you @havenstudiobk for labeling me... and to my sisters in this dizzying but starry slog- I am lasso’d to you!"
Lena has long been vocal about her myriad health issues. The 32-year-old was diagnosed with endometriosis back in 2014, after suffering through years of super-painful periods. Various surgeries followed to remove lesions, and in 2017, she elected to have a total hysterectomy in the hopes of ending her pain.
A year later in 2018, Lena had an additional surgery to remove her left ovary.
"Yesterday I had a two hour surgery to remove my left ovary, which was encased in scar tissue & fibrosis, attached to my bowel and pressing on nerves that made it kinda hard to walk/pee/vamp," she posted on Instagram next to an image of herself in post-op recovery. "Over the last month it got worse and worse until I was simply a burrito posing as a human."
As she continues to heal, Lena now uses her social media account predominately as a platform to discuss her health and women's health at large. More recently, she posted a connect-the-dots-style image of her various surgery scars, in honor of Endometriosis Awareness Month in March.
Kudos to Lena for being open and honest about her recovery, and for not only advocating for her own health, but for the health of women around the world.
