Lena Dunham Reveals She Is 6 Months Sober After Years of ‘Misusing’ Klonopin

Lena Dunham revealed that she is six months sober after quitting the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin.

The 32-year-old discussed her decision during an appearance on Monday’s episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert.

“I’ve been sober for six months,” she said. “My particular passion was Klonopin.”

Dunham said she initially took the medication after intense anxiety held her back from daily activities and even started affecting her work.

“I was having crazy anxiety and having to show up for things that I didn’t feel equipped to show up for,” she explained. “But I know I need to do it, and when I take a Klonopin, I can do it.”

She said the drug, which is a type of Benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety, panic disorders and seizures, made her “feel like the person I was supposed to be.”

“It was like suddenly I felt like the part of me that I knew was there was freed up to do her thing,” she said.

She said that while she had taken other anti-anxiety medications before, Klonopin became the one she reached for most. “I stopped being ‘I take one when I fly,’ to ‘I take one when I’m awake,’” she said.

“I didn’t have any trouble getting a doctor to tell me, ‘No, you have serious anxiety issues, you should be taking this. This is how you should be existing,’” she said.

When she really started abusing it is when she increased her own dosage after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I was diagnosed with pretty serious PTSD. I have a few sexual traumas in my past and then I had all these surgeries and then I had my hysterectomy after a period of really extreme pain,” she said. “It stopped feeling like I had panic attacks and it started feeling like I was a living panic attack. The only thing that was notable was the parts of the day where I didn’t feel like I was going to barf and faint.”

In fact, she became so dependent on the drug that she misused it for years. “If I look back, there were a solid three years where I was, to put it lightly, misusing benzos, even thought it was all quote unquote doctor prescribed,” she said.

While Klonopin was her go-to drug, she also admitted to having her “fair share of opioid experiences” due to her aforementioned health issues.

“Nobody I know who are prescribed these medications is told, ‘By the way, when you try and get off this, it’s going to be like the most hellacious acid trip you’ve ever had where you’re f—ing clutching the walls and the hair is blowing off your head and you can’t believe you found yourself in this situation,” she said. “Now the literal smell of the inside of pill bottles makes me want to throw up.”

Six months removed from being dependent on medication, Dunham said she’s still feeling the effects and getting used to her new normal.

“I still feel like my brain is recalibrating itself to experience anxiety,” she said. “I just feel literally on my knees grateful every day.”