• 'Girls' star Lena Dunham wouldn't want the body of Victoria's Secret model

    By Kurt Schlosser, TODAY

    "Girls" star Lena Dunham is very happy with her body, which perhaps you've noticed if you've ever tuned in to see almost all of it on her HBO series. And she tells Playboy she's so content that she wouldn't readily switch with a Victoria's Secret model.

    Getty Images, Reuters

    Lena Dunham, left, of "Girls" in the body of Lena Dunham, and model Candice Swanepoel of Victoria's Secret in the body of a Victoria's Secret model.

    The actress/writer/director was asked in the magazine's 20Q feature: If you woke up tomorrow in the body of a Victoria’s Secret model, what would you do for the rest of the day?

    "I'd be really disoriented and wonder what had happened in the night. Which enemy had dragged me to the doctor? I don’t think I’d like it very much," Dunham said. "There would be all kinds of weird challenges to deal with that I don't have to deal with now. I don't want to go through life wondering if people are talking to me because I have a big rack.

    "Not being the babest person in the world creates a nice barrier," Dunham continued. "The people who talk to you are the people who are interested in you. It must be a big burden in some ways to look that way and be in public. That said, I probably would want to see if I could get free food at restaurants. Then I’d call a doctor and see if she could return me to my former situation."

    Slideshow: Victoria's Secret fashion show

    The Golden Globe-winning Dunham, who is currently dating guitarist Jack Antonoff of the band fun., also tells Playboy that "despite all the attention I’m getting lately, I definitely haven’t had any Ryan Goslings saying 'I love the way your mind works. Can I take you to dinner?'

    "Maybe it would happen if I looked like a Victoria’s Secret model for one day. Now I understand how I could use that."

    "Girls" airs Sunday nights on HBO.

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  • Katy Perry taking 'Girls' Allison Williams to Grammys, not John Mayer

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    Katy Perry, Allison Williams.

    By Bruna Nessif, E! Online

    This Sunday is officially going to be a "Girls" night for Katy Perry. The Grammy-nominated singer has decided to leave her man John Mayer at home and instead take her gal-pal and HBO star Allison Williams to the 2013 Grammy Awards this weekend (hopefully her grandma doesn't get too jealous).

    "I am going to the Grammys and Katy Perry is my date," Williams told Anderson Cooper during his "Anderson Live" Thursday. "She's the hottest date. She's a friend of mine and she's nominated as she should be. I can't wait to go. Obviously she's awesome. She's the best." 

    John Mayer says he was "just a jerk" in past relationships

    These new BFFs met just a few months ago through their boyfriends -- Williams has been dating College Humor founder Ricky Van Veen since the spring of 2011 -- and have been spotted out together on double dates.

    So what will Mayer do without his main lady? Maybe some more observing of his past ways?

    The crooner told "CBS Sunday Morning's" Anthony Mason in an interview (airing this Sunday), "I was just a jerk," in regards to his past relationships.


    "It's very liberating when you finally realize it's impossible to make everyone like you," Mayer said, adding, "I wanted everybody to like me. I thought I was one shuck and jive away in every direction."

    Look at John Mayer growing up right in front of our eyes.

    Make sure you download these songs before the Grammys!

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  • 'Girls' star Lena Dunham tells Howard Stern: 'I'm not that fat!'

    By Us Weekly

    Reuters / Getty Images file

    Lena Dunham called in to Howard Stern's show Wednesday to address his comments about her and her show "Girls."

    Typically brash Howard Stern surprised both fans and critics alike by issuing a public apology to Lena Dunham on his radio show Monday, Jan. 14, so the "Girls" creator did what any gracious Hollywood starlet would do: She called in.

    The 26-year-old director/actress/writer dropped a line during Stern's SiriusXM Radio show Wednesday, Jan. 16, to reassure Stern that his comments were water under the bridge -- and call him out on one comment in particular. 

    Photos from Us: 12 breakout stars of 2012 

    "I don't even know where to begin with all of this," an apologetic Stern began. "The reason I felt so awful was because when Perez Hilton wrote his article, he told half the story. ...I started to compare you to Woody Allen ... the whole thing came together for me.” 

    The shock jock, 59, continued with a declaration: "I guess I just wanted to tell you I love you and I think you're terrific." 

    On Monday, Jan. 7, Stern caused an angry buzz online after he slammed both Dunham and her hit HBO show "Girls." 

    Photos from Us: Funniest female stars in Hollywood 

    "It's a little fat girl who kinda looks like Jonah Hill and she keeps taking her clothes off and it kind of feels like rape. She seems -- it's like -- I don't want to see that," he scoffed at the time. 

    Dunham admitted Wednesday that she first learned of his cruel comments after castmate Jemima Kirke, who is a huge fan of Stern's show, tipped her off that the radio host was comparing her to the "Superbad" actor. 

    "I thought that was a good line, actually," Stern chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. 

    Dunham responded gamely, but made sure to still get her point across. 


    "I'm not that fat, Howard," she said. "I don't mean to take major issue with you about this. I'm not super thin, but I'm thin for, like, Detroit." 

    Photos from Us: Lena Dunham and other stars at the Golden Globes 

    Stern agreed, explaining that he just meant that she often played up the "fat angle" on the show. 

    "You're not obese or anything," he allowed. 

    "Thank you. Another thing for my gravestone," Dunham laughed, referring to comments she made on the "Late Show" last Thursday, Jan. 10. "Howard Stern says, 'You're not obese or anything.'" 

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  • Howard Stern sorry for Lena Dunham slam, says he's a 'Girls' 'superfan'

    By Natalie Finn, E! Online

    Richard Drew / AP file

    Howard Stern.

    Victory is Lena Dunham's, in more ways than one. Following "Girls'" triumphant night at the Golden Globes, Howard Stern said on his Sirius-XM show Monday morning that he likes the show and felt bad about past cracks he made about its star and creator -- who has charmed some and turned others off with her pointedly awkward character and proclivity for nudity on the HBO series.

    Last Monday, Stern called Dunham "a little fat girl who kind of looks like Jonah Hill" and otherwise detailed his "Girls" grievances.

    5 biggest jaw-droppers at the 2013 Golden Globes

    "I learned that this little fat chick writes the show and directs the show, and that makes sense to me because she's such a camera hog that the other characters barely are on," Stern complained.

    Well, today he was singing a different tune. In fact, it sounded almost like "Anything Could Happen."

    "I felt bad," he said on the air, calling the next-day take on his comments a "hatchet job," "because I really do love the show 'Girls' and enjoy it, and I admire the girl who writes it...So I said to (producer Gary Dell'Abate), would you please contact Lena Dunham and please tell her that I would like to explain myself to her on the air and apologize to her because I do love the show and it makes me feel bad that she is getting the impression that I somehow think she's just a talentless little fat chick."

    "Girls" second season premiere recap: Nudity alert!

    "It took me a while to get there," Stern also said, "and all of the sudden I went, 'This show's really really funny. I like it.' I kind of just started liking the show. And I've done a whole 360 (sic) on the show and I really admire the girl who writes it, and I actually like when she comes on camera...I'm a superfan now. I really love it. I almost went to the premiere the other night."

    Well, if he had gone to the premiere, he could have found out right then and there that the very good-natured Dunham (whom we think would make for an excellent Howard Stern Show interview) was actually kinda psyched by his comments.


    Lena Dunham decodes her Golden Globes speech's Chad Lowe reference

    "I did find out that Howard Stern really hates (the show)," Dunham said on the "Late Show With David Letterman" last week. "I'm a Howard Stern fan and I really think that he has earned the right to free speech and he should just go for it. But he did say something that I thought was so funny that I want to get on my gravestone, where he said, 'Congrats to her, it's so hard for little fat chicks go get anything going these days.' And it put me in the best mood!

    "I just wanted to be like, my gravestone says, 'She was a little fat chick, but she got it goin'."

    "Girls" producer Judd Apatow, who's been a guest on Stern's show multiple times, also tried to put the nastiness in perspective, telling the Los Angeles Times on the red carpet, "I think (his crack) was taken out of context. I don't think it wasn't his intention the way it came out."

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  • 'Girls' creator Lena Dunham is definitely 'not stressed about getting naked'

    By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

    The Lena Dunham-created and -starring HBO series "Girls" is pretty divisive as sitcoms go -- people either love it or loathe it. Focusing on the adventures of four young women in New York City, it's tonally very different from the show it's most likely to be compared to -- "Sex and the City" -- and has come under fire for its content and even casting choices.

    But that's not something that worries the 26-year-old Dunham.

    "I haven't heard about anyone who doesn't like it," chuckled the writer/actress, who appeared on TODAY Tuesday with co-stars Allison Williams, Jemima Kirk and Zosia Mamet. (Trivia alert: Most of the ladies have famous parents: Allison's dad is "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams; Kirk's dad drummed for Bad Company and Free; Mamet's dad is playwright/director David Mamet).

    As 'Girls' returns, its quirky fashion continues to fascinate

    Noted Savannah Guthrie, critics say it's about entitled twentysomethings, who are self-absorbed. But Dunham says her characters are written in shades of gray. "I sort of object to the notion that the characters have to be likable. ... I don't like most of my friends -- I love them, and that's the same way that I feel about characters I write."

    "Part of (the appeal) is holding up a very harsh, funhouse-y mirror to people," added Williams. "I don't think people are used to looking at themselves that closely."

    So what should fans look for in the second season? "We're continuing to push the envelope," said Dunham. "I hope. I think that if you loved what we were doing last season we're going to push it further, and if you hated what we were doing last season you will hate it even more."

    But are the actors actually brave in portraying their complex, occasionally naked, characters? Williams said she thought Dunham was "the bravest person I know," but Dunham objected.

    "It's brave to step into the mouth of a lion," she said, "but it's not that brave to get naked if you're not stressed about getting naked."

    "Girls" returns on Jan. 13.

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  • 'Girls'' Lena Dunham: 'I was a chubby teenager' who 'didn't have friends'

    Carlo Allegri / REUTERS

    Lena Dunham.

    By Us Weekly

    Lena Dunham wasn't always the It Girl from "Girls." In the latest issue of V Magazine (on stands Jan. 10), the 26-year-old speaks candidly about her lonely upbringing in New York City. (Dunham was raised by her father, Carroll, a painter, and her mother, Laurie, a photographer.)

    VIDEO: Lena Dunham's character learns her ex-boyfriend is gay on "Girls"

    "From kindergarten onward, I was like, 'I don't know what to do with people.' First I was a tiny little kid and I didn't have friends. And then I was a chubby teenager and I didn't have friends. It was just this sensation that I didn't know how to connect," the four-time Emmy Award nominee explains. "I think we can all agree with the idea that the beautiful girls that get all the boys get written about. They don't usually write."

    PHOTOS: More must-see TV shows

    Dunham isn't looking for sympathy, however. In fact, she credits those tough times for inspiring her critically-acclaimed work. "So much of my worldview was formed by feeling isolated," she reasons.

    In fact, Dunham relishes in the fact that she's unlike her Hollywood peers. "Meeting actresses who such a big part of their job is about what they look like, I feel so lucky to be freed from that prison. I ate cake for breakfast on the day of the Emmys; I ate cake for dinner, my workout didn't require Spanx, and I still feel like I looked better than people expected me to. It was amazing," the young director tells V Magazine. "I could feel the envy of every woman in the Sunset Tower."

    PHOTOS: Lena Dunham and other stars at the 2012 Emmys


    There are other perks to being on an edgy TV show, Dunham notes. "They actually send (free clothes) to me in my size. No one is being an a------  and sending them to me in a size 4. They are sending me clothes, they fit, and what people should know is that I always wear them," the star admits. "Somehow even if I would not have bought it, the fact that it was free and my grandma's depression-era mentality make me think it's the most beautiful piece I have ever owned, and I wear it for several days straight." 

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  • Best bets: Giraffes fight with their necks on 'Africa'

    By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

    Entertainment is hitting the snooze alarm for the first full week of 2013. No big new movies to note, and no notable DVD releases. Here are our top three TV picks for the week.

    MONDAY: 'The Staircase: Last Chance'
    "The Staircase" is a 2004 television nonfiction miniseries that just may be one of the best ever made. It follows the case of North Carolina author Michael Peterson, who was convicted of the murder of his second wife Kathleen, who was found bloodied at the bottom of the staircase in their Durham mansion. The trial, the revelations about Peterson's pursuit of gay military men for sex, the family background about his two adopted daughters whose mother was also found dead at the bottom of a staircase, the possibility that an owl was the real murderer -- it's all fascinating, and you wouldn't believe it if it was fiction. Now Peterson has been released from prison pending a new trial, and the original filmmaker has added two new episodes to the series. (Jan. 7, 10 p.m., Sundance Channel.)

    TUESDAY: 'Africa'
    The giraffe fight from Discovery Channel's new "Africa" documentary went viral recently, and it's easy to see why. Two majestic giraffes in Namibia repeatedly violently slam each other with practically the only weapon they have, their enormous and slender necks. It's just one moment from the new series, which took four years to make, and which comes from the makers of similar series "Life," which was widely critically acclaimed. In addition to the giraffe fight, the series looks at other bizarre and beautiful animal behaviors, including lizards who dare to eat flies directly off the backs of sleeping lions. You'll never see these scenes at your local zoo. (Jan. 8, 10 p.m., Discovery Channel.)

    SUNDAY: 'Girls'
    The "Girls" are back. Lena Dunham's Emmy Award-winning HBO show is returning this week for a second season. Not everyone took to the show, which features Dunham and cast playing a group of quirky twentysomethings trying to make it in New York, but those who loved it really loved its humor and sometimes shockingly weird plots, which return in the season-two trailer (taking a bath with a friend? that yellow mesh shirt?). Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Adam Driver all return. (Jan. 13, 9 p.m., HBO.)

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  • Lena Dunham stumps for Obama in ad about her 'first time' voting

    By Sophie A. Schillaci , The Hollywood Reporter

    Lena Dunham remembers her first time. Voting, that is. The "Girls"creator and star is encouraging young females to get out to the polls and vote for "a great guy."

    PHOTOS: Young Hollywood's secret breakfast with Obama

    "Your first time shouldn't be with just anybody," she says, before listing various qualities that ladies should look for in their ideal candidate. Among them: "someone who really cares about and understands women," "a guy who cares whether you get health insurance and specifically whether you get birth control -- the consequences are huge," and someone who believes that same sex couples should be able to have "beautiful, complicated weddings like the kinds we see on Bravo and TLC all the time."

    "Think about how you want to spend those four years," she challenges. "In college-age time, that's 150 years."

    At the end of the one-minute ad, Dunham recalls coming of age during her first time at the polls, where she voted for Barack Obama.

    PHOTOS: The top celebrity political Twitter commentators

    The outspoken, politically liberal Dunham drew criticism this week for joking with Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak about dressing for Halloween as the Canadian couple convicted of murder and rape in the '90s.

    "You guys go as killer Canadian couple Paul Bernado and Karla Homolka. I'll be her sister they murdered. Scariest!" she posted in a tweet that has since been removed.

    Dunham addressed her campaign video on Twitter Thursday, writing, "My first time was with @BarackObama -- I highly recommend you do the same."


    She added, "The video may be light but the message is serious: vote for women's rights."

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