Lena Dunham has revealed she misused the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin for three years.
The actress got candid while chatting Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert this week, and said she quit the drug six months ago.
‘I’ve been sober for six months,’ she said. ‘My particular passion was Klonopin.’
The 32-year-old HBO star said she started taking Klonopin when her anxiety got so bad it got in the way of her work and daily activities and when she ‘started feeling like I was a living panic attack’.
‘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 added. The Girls alum said the drug made her feel like the person she ‘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,’ Klonopin is a prescription Benzodiazepine that treats panic and anxiety disorders as well as seizures.
Lena said she began taking Klonopin more and more over the years, saying initially it was ‘I take one when I fly’ and then became ‘I take one when I’m awake’.
Lena explained that she relied on the drug heavily to the point she didn’t know how hard it would be to ween herself off it.
‘If I look back, there were a solid three years where I was, to put it lightly, misusing benzos, even though it was all quote unquote doctor prescribed,’
‘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.’
In the six months since she quit taking Klonopin Lena says she’s still getting used to life without it.
‘I still feel like my brain is recalibrating itself to experience anxiety,’ she explained. ‘I just feel literally on my knees grateful every day.’