Lena Dunham welcomes baby as she opens up about her surrogacy journey

Lena Dunham has become a mother for the first time as she and her husband, musician Luis Felber, have welcomed their first child via surrogacy.

The Girls creator, 40, announced the birth of her daughter in an op-ed published by Vogue on Thursday (17 September), where she detailed her surrogacy journey.

Dunham had a hysterectomy when she was 31 because of her long-term battle with endometriosis.

Detailing the moment her baby girl entered the world, she penned: “13 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’t 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.”

She explained that she was ‘so focused’ on the surrogate, and ‘in awe at her concentration, her period of quiet followed by what sounded like a roar,’ that she ‘forgot to look down’ until she heard her baby crying.

Dunham announced the exciting news in an op-ed published to Vogue (Justin Palmer/Getty Images)

Dunham recalled: “I saw her face, gasping just as she did. Her eyes, wide and unfocused, taking in the light and shadow, blinking rapidly.”

She told the little one: “Hello. I’m your mama. You…you look nothing like I thought you would, but exactly right. We’ve been waiting for you, do you know that? It was so nice of you to come.”

The screenwriter went on to describe how she felt ‘bashful and dizzy with joy’ at the birth, which was 13 days late.

“The waiting was harder to accept,” Dunham admitted, “As the clock wound down, something that was once theoretical became urgent.”

Months before her baby was born, the star appeared on Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, where she revealed she’d always ‘dreamed’ of being a mother.

Dunham said: “Some people don’t dream about being mothers, but I had. And a big part of my identity was that I was going to do that someday and in this way.

“The amazing thing is, since then I have met so many people who have built their families in so many different ways, and I’ve really come to a place where I feel really excited. Whatever way it happens, I will be so grateful.”

The screenwriter said she felt ‘bashful and dizzy with joy’ when her baby girl was born (Aeon/Getty Images)

Dunham has been candid about her experiences with severe, debilitating endometriosis, which led her to get a hysterectomy at 31 in 2017.

For those who are unfamiliar, endometriosis is a long-term condition where cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grow in other parts of the body.

She told Vogue in 2018 that the pain was ‘unbearable’ and making her ‘delirious’, as she heartbreakingly quipped: “With pain like this, I will never be able to be anyone’s mother. Even if I could get pregnant, there’s nothing I can offer.”

In her own words, Dunham checked herself into the hospital and announced she’s not leaving until ‘they stop this pain or take my uterus’.

In June 2025, she told The Times that she and Felber were ‘in the process of expanding our family in new ways’ but didn’t elaborate on how.

She said: "I want to safely meet our children and then figure out how to talk about it."