<\/p>\n
Writer and director Lena Dunham has welcomed her first child with husband Luis Felber\u2014five years after leaving Los Angeles behind for a new life in London.<\/p>\n
Writer and director Lena Dunham has welcomed her first child with husband Luis Felber \u2014 five years after leaving Los Angeles behind for a new life in London.<\/p>\n
The \u201cGirls\u201d creator, 40, revealed in an op-ed for Vogue that she and Felber had welcomed a daughter via surrogate, sharing intimate details about the moment she became a mother.<\/p>\n
Despite having traded the palm trees of Los Angeles for the bustle of London, Dunham revealed that she and Felber temporarily relocated to New York City ahead of the birth, staying in an Airbnb close to their surrogate.<\/p>\n
\u201c13 days late, in the face of a solar eclipse and a meteor shower, she announced herself. I sat on a hospital bed, between the legs of a woman I hadn\u2019t known a year ago, waiting for a glimpse of this person who I had been waiting for with something related to patience, but also none at all,\u201d Dunham penned of her daughter\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n
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The \u201cGirls\u201d creator, 40, revealed in an op-ed for Vogue that she and Felber had welcomed a daughter via surrogate, sharing intimate details about the moment she became a mother. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cI saw her face, gasping just as she did. Her eyes, wide and unfocused, taking in the light and shadow, blinking rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunham described her first moments with her daughter as leaving her \u201cbashful and dizzy with joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Hello,\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019m your mama. You look nothing like I thought you would, but exactly right. We\u2019ve been waiting for you, do you know that? It was so nice of you to come,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
But the joyous milestone wasn\u2019t without some logistical difficulties \u2014 particularly when it came to the couple\u2019s temporary living situation.<\/p>\n
Dunham admitted that she and Felber had failed to extend their Airbnb reservation because they hadn\u2019t anticipated their daughter arriving nearly two weeks after her due date.<\/p>\n
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Dunham created, wrote, directed, produced and starred in comdey series \u2018Girls\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had occurred to me she might come early, but it had never occurred to me she would come late. Our Airbnb in a state not our own, just down the road from where our surrogate lives, ran out, and we hadn\u2019t bothered to check if it was booked for the next two weeks (it was, by frat boys on vacation). As we passed her due date, the days became liquid and squishy, too long and without any form,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Although Dunham and Felber, who tied the knot in 2021, largely kept their surrogacy journey private, the filmmaker has previously spoken candidly about her desire to become a mother and expand their family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a grief but it was also a relief. I thought I would have the opportunity to experience my fertility and my cycle waning and it never was,\u201d Dunham told The Times following her 2025 hysterectomy.<\/p>\n
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Despite having traded the palm trees of Los Angeles for the bustle of London, Dunham revealed that she and Felber temporarily relocated to New York City ahead of the birth, staying in an Airbnb close to their surrogate. Picture: Instagram<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead it was a very quick, sharp cut-off \u2026 I will say we\u2019re in the process of expanding our family in new ways. I want to safely meet our children and then figure out how to talk about it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The arrival of their daughter marks another major chapter for the couple five years after Dunham left Los Angeles and sold her primary home there in favour of a life across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
After relocating, Dunham and Felber snapped up a four-storey townhouse in North London, which has served as their primary residence and what Dunham has described as both a \u201chome base\u201d and \u201ccreative escape.\u201d<\/p>\n
The eclectic property is filled with bold design choices, including various shades of green and pink that reflect Dunham\u2019s colourful aesthetic.<\/p>\n
Dunham has previously opened up about how moving to London offered her a fresh start.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When Dunham and Felber aren\u2019t at their London home, they can retreat to her \u201cforever home\u201d in Connecticut, which sits just 10 feet away from her parents\u2019 property. Picture: Instagram<\/p>\n
\u201cLondon shocked me with its reassuring differences \u2014 streets so wide that the buildings seemed to be stepping aside for me to pass, the blank slate of it all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t feel that you are being in any way hemmed in by other people\u2019s perceptions,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
When Dunham and Felber aren\u2019t at their London home, they can retreat to her \u201cforever home\u201d in Connecticut, which sits just 10 feet away from her parents\u2019 property.<\/p>\n
The house was built during the COVID-19 pandemic and has memorably been described as looking as though \u201ca kindergartener drew a house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her parents, artists Carroll Dunham and Laurie Simmons, helped bring the property to life, with Dunham later explaining that the finished home demonstrated just how well her mother understood her.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It was] showing me just how well [mum] knew me. I felt a shocking amount of gratitude to have these parents and this home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writer and director Lena Dunham has welcomed her first child with husband Luis Felber\u2014five years after leaving Los…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-605110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}