Lena Dunham reportedly privately criticized Hillary Clinton for her handling of Bill's sex scandals

Lena Dunham speaks at a Hillary Clinton rally.

(Image credit: Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

published 20 January 2016

Girls actress Lena Dunham is widely known for her vocal public support for Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, having joined her on the campaign trail and repeatedly endorsed her as the feminist candidate of choice. But in private, Dunham may be less confident in her selection.

Introducing an article about millennial women's discomfort with the Clintons' history of sexual assault allegations, The New York Times recounts a story of Dunham expressing concern about Clinton's handling of her husband's scandals:

But at an Upper East Side dinner party a few months back, Ms. Dunham expressed more conflicted feelings. She told the guests, at the Park Avenue apartment of Richard Plepler, the chief executive of HBO, that she was disturbed by how, in the 1990s, the Clintons and their allies discredited women who said they had sexual encounters or been sexually assaulted by former President Bill Clinton. [The New York Times]

The Clinton campaign has been dogged by revived interest in Bill Clinton's 1990s controversies, perhaps most notably his alleged rape of Juanita Broaddrick. In November, Hillary Clinton tweeted that, "Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported," a statement which has since haunted her at multiple campaign Q&As.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.