--- title: Lena Dunham Lawyers Threaten Lawsuit Over Sex Abuse Allegations description: Her lawyers demand "a prominent public apology." canonical: https://time.com/3557597/lena-dunham-lawsuit-sex-abuse/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-05T01:53:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:15.306Z og:title: Lena Dunham's Lawyers Threaten Lawsuit Over Sex Abuse Allegations og:description: Her lawyers demand "a prominent public apology" og:url: https://time.com/3557597/lena-dunham-lawsuit-sex-abuse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5aa81831f03aae3/6987640b35ba6f300fc04cc1/lena-dunham.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Lena Dunham og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lena Dunham's Lawyers Threaten Lawsuit Over Sex Abuse Allegations twitter:description: Her lawyers demand "a prominent public apology" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5aa81831f03aae3/6987640b35ba6f300fc04cc1/lena-dunham.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lena Dunham's Lawyers Threaten Lawsuit Over Sex Abuse Allegations  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Nov 5, 2014 1:53 AM UTC  Lena Dunham Lena DunhamJeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Nov 5, 2014 1:53 AM UTC Lena Dunham’s lawyers have threatened a lawsuit against a conservative organization after it published an [article](http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/lena-dunham-describes-sexually-abusing-her-toddler-sister) claiming that a passage from the _Girls_ writer’s new memoir indicates she had sexually abused her younger sister. In a [letter](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/custom/Documents/ESQ/Dunham.pdf) dated Nov. 1, Dunham’s legal counsel explains to the right-leaning media outlet Truth Revolt that its story, titled “Lena Dunham Describes Sexually Abusing Her Little Sister,” was “highly defamatory,” according to the document obtained by _The Hollywood Reporter_. Her lawyers also demanded “a prominent public apology” and an immediate and permanent removal of all forms of the article, the letter said. The writer-actress went on [a self-described Twitter “rage spiral”](http://time.com/3554403/lena-dunham-rage-spiral-media/) over the weekend in response to the Truth Revolt’s allegations that parts of her new book, _Not That Kind of Girl,_ describe her “experimenting sexually with her younger sister Grace, whom she says she attempted to persuade to kiss her using ‘anything a sexual predator might do.'” Dunham further addressed the situation Tuesday in [an exclusive statement to TIME](https://time.com/3556513/lena-dunham-sexual-abuse-controversy/), in which she said she does not condone abuse. She also acknowledged that her word choice was inappropriate: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3557597/lena-dunham-lawsuit-sex-abuse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3557597/lena-dunham-lawsuit-sex-abuse/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham's Lawyers Threaten Lawsuit Over Sex Abuse Allegations","datePublished":"2014-11-05T01:53:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:15.306Z","description":"Her lawyers demand \"a prominent public apology\"","url":"https://time.com/3557597/lena-dunham-lawsuit-sex-abuse/","keywords":["Living","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5aa81831f03aae3/6987640b35ba6f300fc04cc1/lena-dunham.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5aa81831f03aae3/6987640b35ba6f300fc04cc1/lena-dunham.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lena Dunham","caption":"Lena Dunham","creditText":"Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3557597/lena-dunham-lawsuit-sex-abuse/","name":"Lena Dunham's Lawyers Threaten Lawsuit Over Sex Abuse Allegations"}}]}] ```