Lena Dunham Says Jezebel's Vogue Unretouched Photos Crusade 'Felt Gross'

Lena Dunham Disses Jezebel Over Vogue Retouching Crusade

Lena Dunham was not happy with Jezebel's crusade to get the unretouched photos from her Vogue photo shoot.

"That was messed up," Dunham told Grantland's Bill Simmons during a recent sit-down. "I think Jezebel can be really smart and funny. I think it's just, like, once you've been attacked in that way it's hard to enjoy. Its hard to enjoy once you feel like they've made such a kind of monumental error in their approach to feminism."

The "Girls" star was, of course, referring to the $10,000 Jezebel offered for the unretouched photos from her February 2014 Vogue cover shoot. The crusade ignited controversy partly because, in an effort to shame the fashion editorial over the "rich and storied history of distorting women's bodies," Jezebel pretty much wound up shaming Dunham.

"I just can't sort of be half in," she said. "It felt gross ... I don't know [if they feel they did wrong] because I didn't talk to the woman who did it directly. I can't imagine the reaction made her feel particularly great ... Once they did post the unretouched images of me that looked so similar ... It was the most minimal retouching. I felt completely respected by Vogue. I felt, like, 'Thank you for removing the one line from my face because I'm 27 years old and I shouldn't have that line there and I appreciate this.'"

She said she took issue with the fact Jezebel Editor-In-Chief Jessica Coen didn't back down even after the unretouched photos were published.

"Instead of going, like, 'Hey, we kind of f**ked up. These images are not that retouched. Lena enjoy the Vogue spread that you've been excited about since you were 8 years old.' They were like, 'She's not retouched, but she could've been.' It was this weird, almost, like, political maneuvering that I had trouble respecting."

This is not the first time Dunham has responded to the incident. Last month, she tweeted about it to fans.

Watch the full interview below.

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