Lena Dunham's 'Lenny Letter' has shut down

The newsletter featured essays written by Jennifer Lawrence and Emily Ratajkowski

(Getty Images for Daily Front Row)

Lena Dunham’s popular feminist newsletter and website has shut down, the actor and writer confirmed in a statement on Friday.

Named Lenny Letter, the platform was launched by Dunham and her writing partner Jenni Konner, with whom she wrote Girls, in 2015.

According to the statement, there is "no one reason" for the closure.

"In the three years since we began, the Internet has opened up for underrepresented writers in ways we wouldn’t have predicted or believed from our 2015 bunker," it reads.

"It was an honour to be part of that brigade, and we can’t wait to see how those who forged that path keep holding space after Lenny is gone."

Former staffers reacted to the news by sharing some of their favourite Lenny Letter pieces from the archives.

"Goodbyes are never easy... " tweeted Dunham, "but there are so many thank you's to all the Lenny supporters, writers, contributors, and readers... here is our @lennyletter farewell [sic]".

Though Dunham and Konner were best known for creating Girls, over the course of its existence, Lenny Letter became just as well-known and was praised for being a go-to resource for millennial women.

Among pieces by Dunham herself, Lenny Letter featured a number of essays written by Dunham’s famous friends, such as Emily Ratajkowski, who wrote about feeling sexualised by men from a young age.

It also published several pieces written by female activists and interviews with high-profile female politicians, including one with Hillary Clinton in September 2015.

In January 2017, Dunham produced a short animated film for Lenny Letter featuring Meryl Streep and America Ferrera in homage to 100 years of Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit organisation providing sexual health care to women in the US.

One of the newsletter’s most notable polemics was by Jennifer Lawrence in October 2015, who questioned why her male co-stars in American Hustle had been paid significantly more than her.

“When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d****, I didn't get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself,” the 28-year-old actor wrote in the piece, which prompted a global conversation surrounding equal pay in Hollywood.

Soon after launching the website, Lenny Letter also brought out a corresponding podcast in collaboration with feminist author Janet Mock, which featured in-depth interviews female politicians and celebrities, including Kris Jenner.

This followed the publication of Dunham's memoir, Not That Kind of Girl, which was criticised over an anecdote regarding her younger sister that led people to accuse the writer and actor of "sexual abuse".

Dunham has faced a number of criticisms over the years regarding Lenny Letter and beyond.

For example, author Zinzi Clemmons wrote an open letter in November 2017 explaining why she would no longer be writing for Lenny Letter, citing Dunham’s “well-known racism” as one of her reasons for the boycott.

Clemmons also voiced concerns with Dunham and Konner’s decision to defend Girls writer and producer Murray Miller after he was accused of sexual assault by actor Aurora Perrineau.

When the allegations emerged, the two women released a joint statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “While our first instinct is to listen to every woman's story, our insider knowledge of Murray's situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the three percent of assault cases that are misreported every year. It is a true shame to add to that number, as outside of Hollywood women still struggle to be believed.

“We stand by Murray and this is all we'll be saying about this issue."

After facing a barrage of criticism for their comments, Dunham and Konner issued an apology.

In January 2018, Dunham came under fire again after she was accused of not partaking in the "Time's Up" initiative, which aims to fight sexual harassment in the workplace, though she did show support for the campaign on her social media profiles.

Lenny Letter had acquired more then 500,000 subscribers since its advent and its rapid growth led to a partnership with Vogue publishers Condé Nast in October 2017.