Lena Dunham felt "very lonely" on the set of 'Girls'.
Lena Dunham
The 30-year-old actress was torn between wanting to fit in with her co-stars and feeling an added sense of responsibility as the creator of the show.
She said: "Sometimes I would get very lonely, because I wanted to be a part of the group, but there was also the element of, like, having to boss people around. And we would be doing all this as a team, [but] if we got criticism, I felt like it would all come down on me in this s**t-storm torrent.
"Even though I was surrounded by love, there were times where I felt very 'by myself' in the process."
And Lena admits she "injured" herself in some ways as she was determined to push herself as hard as possible to prove she was worthy of TV executives taking a chance on her with the show.
In a joint interview with her castmates, she told America's Glamour magazine: "Making my deal with HBO as a 23-year-old woman, I felt that I had so much to prove.
"I felt like I had to be the person who answered emails the fastest, stayed up the latest, worked the hardest. As much as I loved my job, I really, like, injured myself in some ways."
But Lena has learned from her mistakes and won't be so hard on herself with her next project.
She added: "If I had felt like, 'You're worthy of eight hours of sleep, not four; you're worthy of turning your phone off on a Saturday,' I don't think it would have changed the outcome of the show.
"I could have worked with a sense of joy and excitement, rather than guilt and anxiety of being 'found out.' The advice I would give any woman going into a job if she has a sense of impostor syndrome would be: There will be nothing if you don't look out for you.
"And I can't wait, on my next project, to go into it with the strength that comes from, like, valuing your own body and your own mental health."
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