Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff were together for nearly six years before calling it quits in late 2017.
Dunham wrote in her April 2026 memoir, Famesick, that Antonoff’s sister was the one who pushed them to meet. Antonoff emailed Dunham to plan a dinner date, and they fell hard and fast.
“The best medicine was Jack. Here was this boy — no, at 28, he was a man. He had strong arms, and good instincts, and models on video shoots who slipped him their numbers on napkins,” Dunham wrote. “I didn’t realize it then, but as our relationship deepened, I relied on him for more than companionship and affection.”
She added, “His care for me, his choosing me, was an assurance that l was beautiful, lovable, being signed off on by someone who had every choice in the world and had made this one.”
Us Weekly confirmed the pair’s breakup in January 2018, one month after they called it quits.
Keep scrolling for a look back at their relationship:
September 2012
Jack Antonoff and Lena Dunham were photographed with his sister Rachel Antonoff at the Spring 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
February 2013
Lena Dunham kissed Jack Antonoff on the cheek when they attended the Grammys together.
March 2014
When celebrating Jack Antonoff’s 30th birthday, Lena Dunham shared a sweet Instagram tribute.
“Happy 30th Birthday to my partner/favorite face,” she wrote at the time.
Lena Dunham discussed her relationship with ex Jack Antonoff at length in her newly released memoir, Famesick. “The best medicine was Jack. Here was this boy — no, at 28, he was a man,” Dunham, 39, wrote. “He had strong arms, and good instincts, and models on video shoots who slipped him their numbers on […]
August 2014
Jack Antonoff joined Lena Dunham at the Emmys.
January 2015
The couple packed on the PDA while attending HBO’s official Golden Globe Awards afterparty.
March 2015
Lena Dunham celebrated Jack Antonoff’s 31st birthday with a throwback photo from New Years Eve.
“Happy 31st Birthday to my great love @jackantonoff. I am awed by you every day, and so lucky to be yours,” she wrote.
November 2016
Lena Dunham revealed that she kept a photo of Jack Antonoff in her purse at all times.
“I carry a lotta s*** in my purse- crystals, medication, books, eyebrow pencil, more crystals,” she wrote via Instagram. “But this is the best talisman I’ve found. I hope your weekends are full of love and nourishment, and that you use every method you love to slow your breath and the world around you.”
February 2017
Jack Antonoff was a supportive partner while attending the Girls season 6 premiere alongside Lena Dunham.
February 2017
Jack Antonoff and Lena Dunham attended their final public event together, walking the Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy red carpet together.
November 2017
Lena Dunham wrote in Famesick that she underwent a hysterectomy. Shortly thereafter, the couple had their “worst-ever fight” and put their relationship on “pause” when Antonoff went on tour.
Dunham met up with a childhood friend and ex named Nick, who she slept with repeatedly until Antonoff got back from tour.
Lena Dunham is getting real about her decision to step back from pursuing acting roles. “Having my body dissected was a reason that I chose in general to step back from acting a little bit more and focus on my writing and my directing,” Dunham, 39, told The Independent in a profile published on Saturday, […]
December 2017
Lena Dunham confirmed in her book Famesick that she initiated their split.
“I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t pretend. ‘I think we both know … we haven’t been making each other ha-a-appy,’ I stuttered before sobs overtook me,” she wrote. “We put our foreheads together and wept. In some fit of delusion, I asked if we could still go on dates. … We told each other everything lovely that either of us might ever have wanted to hear.”
April 2018
Lena Dunham went to rehab for a Klonopin addiction. While there, she befriended a teen who happened to be listening to Pink’s song “Beautiful Trauma,” which Jack Antonoff wrote.
August 2021
Jack Antonoff moved on with now-wife Margaret Qualley. Lena Dunham wrote in Famesick that she recalled seeing photos of Antonoff and Qualley kissing.
“He’d won the friend that I wanted, so when I wept like a child on the first afternoon I saw a paparazzi picture of them kissing on the Brooklyn Bridge, I knew that nobody would understand why I was so upset, that they’d assume it was because I was jealous of her, and that made me weep even harder,” she wrote.
