--- ---  # Lena Dunham’s Publisher to Alter Her Book After Threat of Litigation Over Rape Story  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Updated: Jan 24, 2024 3:07 PM UTCPublished: Dec 9, 2014 5:32 PM UTC  Random House  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Updated: Jan 24, 2024 3:07 PM UTCPublished: Dec 9, 2014 5:32 PM UTC In her recent essay collection, _Not That Kind of Girl_, Lena Dunham recounts being [sexually assaulted as an undergraduate](http://time.com/3445018/lena-dunham-not-that-kind-of-girl-rape-essay/) by a fellow student named Barry whom she portrays as Oberlin College’s “resident conservative” at the time. He wore cowboy boots and sported a moustache, hosted a radio show and worked at the library. This description, it turns out, is very similar to an actual student named Barry, who, since the book’s publication, has denied he raped Dunham. According to the [_Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/publisher-alter-lena-dunham-book-755193), his attorney, Aaron Minc, has requested that Dunham’s publisher, Random House, alter the passage to indicate that the name is a pseudonym, and the publisher has agreed to comply. Random House told Minc that his client is not the rapist Dunham writes about in her book. The publisher has also offered to pay Minc’s client’s legal fees, although Minc says, “Ideally, we were looking for something from Miss Dunham.” Minc says he believes his client is a victim of libel, but hoped that remedial action from Dunham and her publisher would ease Barry’s suffering and prevent the decision to take legal action. Lena Dunham responded to the debate over her essay and her decision to include details in her book about her alleged assailant in an essay [published by Buzzfeed ](https://time.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3625223&action=edit)on Tuesday evening. In the piece, she apologizes for any harm she may have caused the ‘real-life’ Barry: --- > “” --- Following the book’s publication in September, the conservative news site Breitbart.com launched an [ investigation](http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/12/03/investigation-lena-dunhams-republican-rapist-story-falls-apart-under-scrutiny) into the specifics of the alleged assault as described by Dunham. And on Tuesday, Kurt Bardella, a spokesperson for Breitbart.com, had this to say about the site’s investigation and Dunham’s apology: --- > “” --- The debate strikes a sensitive chord at a time when discussions about rape on college campuses are more [charged than ever](http://time.com/3620643/uva-gang-rape-rolling-stone-jackie/). Dunham appears to have predicted some of the fallout from the story. She [told Howard Stern](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/girls-star-lena-dunham-opens-sexually-assaulted-college/story?id=25898563) back in October, “This was an essay I was very anxious and self-conscious about putting in the book because we are in a current culture where everything is turned into a game of telephone and it turns into a headline.” Still, she says she hopes speaking out would make an impact on the many young women who blame themselves for being sexually assaulted. **_Editor’s note:_** _This piece has been updated to reflect Lena Dunham’s_ [_apology_](https://time.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3625223&action=edit) _regarding the portion of her book about sexual assault._ Lena Dunham Publisher Alters Book for Rape Story ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3625223/lena-dunham-publisher-rape/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3625223/lena-dunham-publisher-rape/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham’s Publisher to Alter Her Book After Threat of Litigation Over Rape Story","datePublished":"2014-12-09T17:32:07.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T15:07:22.000Z","description":"Publisher will indicate that the name of a student who sexually assaulted her is a pseudonym.","url":"https://time.com/3625223/lena-dunham-publisher-rape/","keywords":["Living","lena dunham","Rolling Stone","campus rape","campus sexual assault","University of Virginia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte43ed78eaf58452b/69876dad8e06015eb14591b7/not-that-kind-of-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte43ed78eaf58452b/69876dad8e06015eb14591b7/not-that-kind-of-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"not-that-kind-of-girl","caption":"","creditText":"Random House","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/3625223/lena-dunham-publisher-rape/","name":"Lena Dunham’s Publisher to Alter Her Book After Threat of Litigation Over Rape Story"}}]}] ```