A big chunk of Lena’s celebrity or media attention comes from being aggressively unattractive and flaunting it.
Girls was all about Lena being fat and plain, instead of trying to hide it with sensible clothes or improve her hair/make-up. She amplified and leaned into the unattractive dumpy look. It paid off for her, she got lots of praise and acclaim for being “real” on a cable TV series.
She could claim this was the character she played, but there isn’t a big difference between the character and Lena. A few years in, at the peak of her fame, she actually lost weight and tried to pretty up her look. I think she found it was hard and required the type of discipline and effort she loathes, so just reverted back to what worked - being an anti-aesthetic, anti-attractive celeb. She’s also decided to lean in to being a munchie after giving up on the self-improvement stuff, which was a convenient cop out.
Having her ovaries and uterus removed would have thrown her into immediate and instant menopause which will absolute age a woman by a decade or two. You can take hormones to mitigate this but it doesn’t appear like she has done this. The hormonal shift of menopause (done in months instead of slowly over years) changes the metabolism, fat distribution, energy levels, etc..so no surprise she looks like fat hipster grandma in toddler attire.
This could actually result in a much longer career for Lena, than your typical pretty actress whose career is in free fall after 30. So many famous actresses start having all the hardcore Botox, plastic surgery, fillers, etc.. in their 30’s that they look like abnormal face frozen weirdos after 35 and they all start looking alike. Being a “name” actress that could easily pass as a middle aged cashier at Wal-Mart is pretty rare commodity in Hollywood. The aggressively unattractive, fat and dumpy look could lead to a lot of character roles for her.
Of course, she would have to stop eating all the Rx opiates and benzos she loves so much and stop the munchie BS. I think her unreliability and drug addiction would be the biggest barrier to her career. She can whine all day about “muh chronic health conditions” but all the guys in charge know she’s using it as an excuse to eat pills like pez candy.
The drug abuse, and unreliability, certainly did a lot of damage to her career. It’s why she made such a huge deal in the media about her hysterectomy and other health issues. It was the “valid excuse” you should feel bad for me PR campaign. The problem was she didn’t give up the pills after her hysterectomy and kept on the munchie excuse highway.
I don’t keep up with her on SM but is she still a munchie or has that been toned down any? I wondered if being D list celeb munchie would be her identity. If not, maybe she noticed constantly talking about all her “health conditions” and making that her identity had led to all her work drying up.
(In interviews Lena is always talking about exciting projects in the works, but it’s all hype and smoke. Most of the projects she’s talked about in the media the last five years either never happened or landed like a wet fart and quickly disappeared. Been awhile since I’ve even seen one of her navel gazing essays published. )
