Lena Dunham says she protects Taylor Swift “in every way”

Whether she is performing on stage or attending her boyfriend’s soccer games, Taylor Swift always has a loyal group of girls by her side and her friendship with Lena Dunham is no exception.

In a recent interview with the New Yorker on July 9, Dunham talked about how “protective” she is of the “Karma” singer.

“I’m always very protective of her in every way,” Dunham said. “The two things I probably get asked most in life are ‘What’s Taylor like?’ and ‘Can I have tickets to the Eras tour?’ And usually my answer to both questions is no.”

Dunham went on to say that Swift is “everything you could want her to be.”

“She’s kind, she’s devoted, she’s thoughtful, she’s emotional, she’s damn funny,” Dunham added.

The actress said she has been on every one of Swift’s tours, telling the outlet, “Even before Taylor and I were friends, I always felt such a deep connection to her music. Obviously something uniquely mine.”

Dunham was also dating Swift’s producer and girlfriend, Jack Antonoffand Swift was her bridesmaid in 2021 when she married Luis Felber, Vogue reported.

Read on to learn more about Dunham and Swift’s friendship.

2012: Lena Dunham posts on social media about Taylor Swift

The “Girls” actor has been linked to the pop star for over a decade; Dunham posted about the singer’s music on X in 2012.

Following the release of Swift’s fourth studio album, Red, Dunham reached out to X again to tell her followers how much she loved it.

2014: Lena Dunham and Taylor Swift together at the Golden Globes

Dunham and Swift were photographed together at the 71st Golden Globe Awards.

At the awards ceremony on January 12, 2014, Dunham won the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) for her role in the television series “Girls”, while Swift’s song “Safe & Sound” from the soundtrack of “The Hunger Games” earned her a nomination for Best Original Song (Motion Picture).

2015: Lena Dunham appears on stage with Taylor Swift at the “1989” show

Swift often asks her friends and fellow artists to accompany her on stage during her performances, including during her “1989” tour.

At the tour stop in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in July 2015, Dunham was part of the group of friends who reunited with Swift in front of the audience. Hailee Steinfeld, Lily Aldridge and Gigi Hadid were also on stage with them.

2016: Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham have dinner together

Swift and Dunham were spotted leaving the Blue Ribbon Brasserie in New York City in 2016. Their dinner took place the same night that Dunham’s show “Girls” entered its fifth season.

2018: Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff, Swift’s music producer confirms separation after five-year relationship

Dunham and Jack Antonoff, Swift’s longtime boyfriend who has co-produced several of her songs, began dating after meeting on a blind date in April 2012, Antonoff recalled to Vulture.

“By modern standards, it was a blind date,” Antonoff told the outlet in June 2014. “I mean, I used the Internet.”

The two spoke very positively about each other during their relationship, and Antonoff told Vulture that he immediately felt a connection with Dunham.

“I told Lena everything about my whole life because if you really like someone, you want that person to know everything about you,” he said.

In a 2017 issue of Variety magazine, Dunham wrote a tribute to Antonoff, who was then among the 50 people named to the magazine’s “New Power of New York” list.

“It’s safe to say that my life before Jack was much less touristy,” Dunham said. “He showed me the importance of making political statements through a public platform. He showed me the joys of collaboration. He showed me the magic of his home state of New Jersey and transformed the butt of my snarky New York jokes into a shimmering fantasy land.”

“I know he does the same for all the artists he produces for, the fans who come to his shows and the recipients of his love. I try to share kindly,” she added.

Antonoff frequently co-writes and produces Swift’s music. The first album they worked on together was 2014’s “1989,” which won Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year at the 2016 Grammy Awards. Since then, he has helped produce Swift’s subsequent albums “Reputation,” “Lover,” “Folklore,” “Evermore,” “Midnights,” and “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Antonoff and Dunham’s relationship has served as inspiration for Swift’s music in the past. In 2015, the singer told Elle in a cover story that she wrote her song “You Are in Love,” which appears on her album “1989,” about the connection between her two friends.

In the interview, Swift was asked about the lyrics of the love song “You’re My Best Friend” and the singer said that she didn’t experience it, but “wrote the song about things that Lena (Dunham) told me about her and Jack (Antonoff). They’re basically just things that she told me.”

After being together for more than five years, Antonoff and Dunham split up, a spokesperson confirmed to E! News in January 2018.

2021: Swift is a bridesmaid at Dunham’s wedding

Dunham married musician Luis Felber in September 2021 and Swift was one of her bridesmaids.

The wedding took place at the members-only Union Club in London and included the attendance of around 60 guests, Vogue reported.

In a series of photos from the wedding posted by Vogue on Instagram, Swift is pictured with comedian Jerrod Carmichael and her bridesmaid Tommy Dorfman. The bridesmaids wore matching metallic dresses, which Dunham described in her Vogue article as having a “swinging sixties” energy.

2023: Dunham joins Swift’s “Era’s Tour”

The actress told The New Yorker in July 2024 that she attended Swift’s “Eras Tour” shows in Boston and Pittsburgh in 2023 to support the singer in cities “that are a little off the beaten path.”

Dunham also told the newspaper that her favorite Swift era is “Reputation.” “It’s so much about, ‘If you don’t want to see me, if you’re so reluctant to understand what’s in front of you and what I’m trying to tell you, why don’t I just put on a black catsuit and go completely into villain mode?'”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com.