Lena Dunham welcomes first baby with husband Luis Felber
Lena Dunham attends the UK Premiere of “Catherine Called Birdy” at The Curzon Mayfair. (Getty Images)
Lena Dunham is officially a mother.
The Girls creator, actress and author, 40, and her husband Luis Felber, also 40, have welcomed their first child together. The couple have announced the arrival of their daughter, via surrogate. Dunham has spoken extensively over the years about how becoming a parent might look very different from the way she once imagined it.
What has Lena Dunham said about her desire to become a mother?
Dunham previously underwent a hysterectomy in 2017 at 31 after years of debilitating pain caused by endometriosis. Speaking earlier this year on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle, she reflected on the complicated emotions surrounding the decision, explaining that while she needed relief from constant pain, she also had to grieve the loss of the future she had initially imagined for herself.
“It’s interesting because the framing is that you make a choice to do this, but if you’re in pain 24 hours a day, it isn’t really a choice,” she said at the time.
Dunham has said she always envisioned becoming a mother, describing motherhood as a major part of how she imagined her identity and future. After her surgery, she said she initially felt a weight around what had happened, but her perspective on parenthood gradually began to change as she met people who had built families in different ways.
“The amazing thing is, since then, I have met so many people who built their families in so many different ways, and I have really come to a place where I feel really excited,” she said in April. “Whatever way it happens, I will feel so grateful.”
Dunham and Felber welcomed their daughter via surrogate, marking a new chapter for the couple and the fulfilment of Dunham’s long-held dream of becoming a parent.
Who are Lena Dunham and Luis Felber?
Dunham is the creator, writer, director and star of HBO’s Girls (2012 – 2017), and has also worked across film, TV and publishing.
She married British-Peruvian musician Luis Felber, also known as Attawalpa, in 2021.
The couple had a small wedding ceremony in September 2021 at the Union Club in London after meeting earlier in January of that same year.
Dunham told The Times in July 2025 that she was expanding her family with Felber, saying, “It was a grief but it was also a relief,” she said. “I thought I would have the opportunity to experience my fertility and my cycle waning and it never was.”
“Instead it was a very quick, sharp cut-off…I will say we’re in the process of expanding our family in new ways,” she continued. “I want to safely meet our children and then figure out how to talk about it.”
