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‘American Idol’ alum Antonella Barba arrested over domestic violence

Former “American Idol” contestant Antonella Barba is in trouble with the law again.

Barba, 38, was arrested in New Jersey on Sunday, a representative for the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed Tuesday to USA TODAY. The arrest follows a domestic violence charge two weeks ago, according to law enforcement, which violated her federal probation from a previous drug-related charge. The violation led the District of New Jersey to put a warrant out for Barba’s arrest.

Barba was released following the arrest on condition of home detention, an order filed Tuesday in a New Jersey district court revealed. The order also included a demand for no contact with K.H., the ex-partner with whom she has had “a tumultuous relationship,” according to court documents.

USA TODAY has reached out to reps for Barba and the Point Pleasant Beach Police Department for comment.

Barba, who competed on Season 6 of “American Idol” and later appeared on “Fear Factor,” was sentenced to 45 months in federal prison in 2019 for possession of nearly two pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl with intent to distribute it.

Antonella Barba prison interview: Her fall from ‘American Idol’ glory

Barba was also ordered to undergo five years of supervised release after leaving prison in 2021. In the time since then, she has continued to have run-ins with law enforcement, including an arrest in February for trespassing after refusing to leave a hotel in California, according to court documents.

The singer, who was among the top 16 contestants during her 2007 run on “Idol,” was first arrested on drug charges in October 2018.

Investigators at the time had been tracking another individual who they believed was a source of illicit drugs. When they listened in to one of his phone calls, they discovered he was sending a woman to deliver drugs, according to the case filing.

That woman tuned out to be Barba, who police discovered in a car nearby an apartment where the drugs were meant to be stashed with a shoebox of fentanyl on the front passenger floor.

“Life’s a funny place sometimes,” Barba told the Asbury Park Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a 2020 interview from prison. “You make one wrong turn and it’s irreversible. I can’t really pinpoint any certain thing that made it happen. It was just an unfortunate series of events leading up to the biggest mistake of my life.

“I definitely made a wrong decision. I was there. I wish I never did it but at this point I’m just trying to make the best of where I’m at,” she added. “I definitely do want to show an example to people that you can be at your lowest low and still rise above.”

Contributing: Ken Serrano, Asbury Park Press

April 2, 2025
Actor once built a treehouse in New Mexico

In the summer of 2006, I made my way to a steep embankment on the Pecos River just east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, to meet Val Kilmer.

The actor, who died Tuesday at age 65, was movie-star handsome at 46. He wasn’t promoting a new film but wanted to show off something else. Something childlike. Something surreal. Something that, as he put it, could help him “figure out what I’m all about.”

It was a treehouse. Not some simple planks and nails contraption affixed to a low branch, mind you. This was, befitting an iconic actor who’d made his name in “Top Gun,” “The Doors” and many other films, an elaborate treehouse built high in a stand of old oak trees with material sourced from an old barn on his 6,000-acre spread.

“I’ll fib and say it’s for my kids, but it’s really for me,” he said. “I had a treehouse as a child. So being an adult … well, it’s strangely, weirdly satisfying to sit in a tree.”

One could well picture Kilmer sitting silently, shamanistically, in that 300-square-foot treehouse. He possessed the same intensity as singer and poet Jim Morrison, who he’d embodied so thoroughly in “The Doors” that he insisted on singing Morrison’s songs himself, to eerie effect.

But I sensed he truly was hoping that this treehouse, which he’d dreamed up with Roderick Romero, a New York-based treehouse designer to the rich and famous, would lure his children to his Western outpost.

Val Kilmer, ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Batman Forever’ star, dies at 65

Val Kilmer portrayed larger-than-life characters, such as Jim Morrison, Doc Holliday and Batman, throughout his prolific acting career.

In truth, our meeting was suffused with a layer of sadness owing to the very absence of the two kids he shared with his ex-wife, actress Joanne Whalley: Mercedes, then 14, and Jack, 11.

They lived mostly with their mother in Los Angeles, but Kilmer clearly pined for them. Not far from the treehouse was a beat-up old Land Rover. On its dash was some graffiti, including “Jack Rocks” and “Mercedes Rules.”

“They haven’t seen this place yet, but I can’t wait,” Kilmer said wistfully, lying on the treehouse deck in shorts and a sweat-soaked khaki shirt. “My son’s a monkey. He’ll be up on that tin roof in no time.”

For now, though, the house was his, a remote outpost of a remote outpost. High up in that treehouse, so far away from anything but the snakes, hawks, coyotes and other creatures who called this land home, Kilmer could take flight and escape the Hollywood noise that had turned the gifted artist into, by all accounts, a difficult presence at times.

Kilmer spoke to me in short bursts of reflection. While he was cordial, he wasn’t effusive. He seemed more like a friendly ghost, drifting down to the river to share some thoughts before just as quickly drifting away.

I remember wanting to ask so many questions about his acting method and prowess. Of how he flew into stardom as Iceman opposite Tom Cruise and became Morrison for director Oliver Stone. Of what Hollywood fame can do to actors that causes some to disappear into the high desert.

But Kilmer wasn’t open for that sort of emotional mining. He was willing to share some of his heart, but only a bit. Not with a stranger.

So for the rest of us − for the movie loving world − what we are left with is what Kilmer brought to the big screen. Performances suffused with power, emotion and release. Performances that brought us in close.

Which is likely why Val Kilmer needed that lofty treehouse overlooking an ancient river in a beautifully arid land suffused with mystery. A place to figure out what he was truly all about.

April 2, 2025
Young Scooter’s cause of death revealed; woman arrested over 911 call

Police on Tuesday arrested a woman accused of making a false 911 call before last week’s death of Atlanta rapper Young Scooter, whose death has been ruled accidental in a newly released autopsy.

The Atlanta Police Department said Demetria Spence, 31, was charged Tuesday with transmitting a false public alarm. The false call was allegedly made to authorities before the March 28 death of Kenneth Bailey, also known by his stage name of Young Scooter, a Southern rap figure who has collaborated with Future.

Police said Spence had been wanted for allegedly making a false 911 call about an injured person just prior to Bailey’s death, which took place outside a house about 5 miles south of downtown Atlanta.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said an autopsy revealed Bailey died after suffering “a penetrating injury” to his right thigh after jumping at least one fence and coming into contact with “fencing material and/or woody debris” outside the home on Friday.

Fulton County Sheriff’s Office records show Spence was taken into custody on Tuesday and remained at the Fulton County Jail on Wednesday. It was not immediately known whether she had obtained an attorney in the case.

911 call released

Listen: Fake 911 call released related to death Young Scooter

A woman has been arrested after she allegedly transmitted a false public alarm about Atlanta rapper Young Scooter who died that night.

In a press conference Friday, police homicide commander Lt. Andrew Smith told reporters officers responded to a report of a dispute potentially involving a weapon on Friday, which was Young Scooter’s 39th birthday. Smith added that initial reports indicated shots were fired.

In the initial 911 call, a person, later identified by police as Spence, said a woman “was bleeding profusely, particularly from her head, and that a child may have been present during the incident.”

“She has a baby,” the caller said. “This situation is really serious, and he’s punching her. If you guys don’t get here, she’s going to be really hurt.”

The caller reported hearing gunshots.

Actor’s alleged abuse: Shia LaBeouf ‘fully’ supports acting school documentary

Bailey fled the house before suffering leg injury, police say

At the scene, responding officers knocked on the door before a male opened it and immediately shut it, Smith said. As police set up a perimeter around the home, two people ran from the rear of the home.

Smith said one of the runners, a male who police have not identified, returned back into the house. The other, later identified as Bailey, jumped two fences. Officers found Bailey on the other side of the fence suffering from what appeared to be “an injury to his leg.”

Bailey was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, Smith said.

Celebrity death: Val Kilmer, ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Batman Forever’ star, dies at 65

Autopsy: Young Scooter’s death ruled accidental; rapper died after suffering leg injury

The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said officials performed an autopsy Saturday, which revealed Bailey died after suffering “a penetrating injury” to his upper leg.

His manner of death was ruled an accident.

“Mr. Bailey sustained a penetrating injury of his right thigh that created marked blood loss,” officials wrote in the report. “This injury was not a gunshot wound. Mr. Bailey injured himself on organic (wooden) fencing material and/or woody debris after vaulting at least one fence.”

In a statement on the police department’s website, officials wrote the agency was “aware of inaccurate comments and social media posts” regarding Bailey’s death.

“While we understand that many people are saddened by his passing, it is important to recognize that Atlanta police officers neither discharged their firearms nor used any force against Mr. Bailey,” the department wrote.

Contributing: Jay Stahl

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.

April 2, 2025
See photos of Val Kilmer's custom New Mexico treehouse sanctuaryCelebrities

See photos of Val Kilmer’s custom New Mexico treehouse sanctuaryCelebrities

April 2, 2025
How can the common illness turn deadly

The death of actor and leading man Val Kilmer is a stark reminder of how one of the most common lung infections in the country can turn deadly.

Pneumonia causes more than a million hospitalizations and about 50,000 deaths each year, according to the American Lung Association. The infection can impact one or both lungs, causing inflammation and fluid buildup.

Kilmer, best known for his roles in films like “Batman” and “The Doors,” died from the illness Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times and the Associated Press.

USA TODAY has reached out to Kilmer’s representatives for comment.

Although anyone can develop pneumonia, those most at risk are children under 2, adults 65 and older and patients with weakened immune systems. The American Lung Association said these populations are also most at risk of pneumonia complications, which may include respiratory failure, lung abscesses and sepsis.

Val Kilmer tributes: Celebrities remember ‘icon’ ‘Top Gun’ actor

Lung abscesses occur when pockets of pus form inside or around the lung. Sepsis is a condition that leads to uncontrolled inflammation in the body and sometimes organ failure.

The American Lung Association said certain medical conditions can also put people at higher risk for developing pneumonia, such as COPD, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Those with weakened immune systems due to HIV/AIDS, organ transplants, chemotherapy or long-term steroid use may also face a higher risk of developing pneumonia.

Pneumonia can also affect those who have difficulty swallowing due to a stroke, dementia or other neurological condition because they’re at a higher risk for food or fluid entering the lungs, which could become infected.

The lung infection has more than 30 different causes including certain bacteria, viruses and fungi. Common symptoms of pneumonia include chest pain when breathing or coughing; fatigue; fever, sweating and shaking chills; nausea or vomiting; and a cough that produces phlegm, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Some adults older than 65 or who have weakened immune systems may experience a low body temperature.

One of the best ways to prevent pneumonia is to get vaccinated against one of the many vaccine-preventable infections that can lead to pneumonia, such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), measles, pertussis or whooping cough and COVID-19, among others.

Children younger than 5 and adults 50 and older are also recommended to get vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia, a common form of bacterial pneumonia, according to the American Lung Association.

Besides vaccines, the organization recommends that those at risk practice healthy habits such as washing hands to prevent the spread of germs that can cause pneumonia, while also avoiding smoking as tobacco can damage the lungs’ ability to fight off infections.

Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at [email protected].

April 2, 2025
Martin Scorsese on his cameo in Seth Rogen’s ‘The Studio’

Leave it to Martin Scorsese to have a little giddy fun at the expense of the business that has made him a legend.

“It’s so good it’s painful; it’s so truthful that it’s painful,” a laughing Scorsese tells USA TODAY. Here’s what the “it” is.

In the debut episode of the new Apple TV+ Hollywood spoof “The Studio” (first two episodes now streaming; weekly on Thursdays) studio boss Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) is elated over landing Scorsese for what promises to be the filmmaker’s final movie. But there’s a wee catch.

Scorsese wants to direct a sober revisitation of the 1978 People’s Temple mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The cult members died by drinking from a poisoned vat of Kool-Aid, an act that spawned the term “drinking the Kool-Aid,” meaning blindly following a group edict.

Remick is trying to satisfy his new box office-obsessed boss Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston), who has announced that the studio’s next big-budget film will be based on the sugary drink Kool-Aid. So Remick greenlights Scorsese’s film with one request: that the director call his movie “Kool-Aid.” Scorsese agrees, not realizing he’s unwittingly signed up to direct a movie about a powered soft drink.

Of course, the deal falls apart the instant Remick’s slimy sidekick Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz) delivers the bad news at a party hosted by Charlize Theron. Scorsese promptly breaks down in tears, and Theron kicks Remick and Saperstein out of her party.

Scorsese just starts laughing when asked about the premise of his cameo, one of many promised by “The Studio.”

“It was not that much of stretch,” he says. “I’ve been through that a number of times in my life.”

Meaning, meetings where compromises are made to move the movie along. And perhaps even meetings about projects rooted more in pop culture than great storytelling. Scorsese has been a longtime advocate for filmmaking and filmmakers, ranging from efforts to preserve old movies to criticism of what he called “manufactured content.”

“Jonestown was just awful, but look, suddenly you call the movie ‘Kool-Aid’ and you get the picture made,” he says. “So then, when you see the picture, you realize it’s not really about Kool-Aid, it’s about other things.”

Speaking of other things, Scorsese is set to deliver the second part of a series about legendary Catholics called “The Saints,” streaming on Fox Nation April 4 with an episode about St. Francis.

But what about feature films, considering that his last sprawling epic, Netflix’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” was a critical triumph? The good news is, “Kool-Aid” or no “Kood-Aid,” Scorsese is not done yet.

“I don’t know what’s next; I’ve got to get going here,” he says with a laugh, suddenly reaching over to grab a stack of scripts. “I have some reading to do.”

April 2, 2025
As Ever, Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand, arrives: See products

After much ado, Duchess Meghan’s As Ever lifestyle brand has finally arrived.

The domestic Duchess of Sussex took to social media Wednesday to mark the milestone as her first line of products was released to fans.

“We’re live! Come shop the As ever collection I’ve poured so much love into. So excited to share this with you 💫,” Meghan captioned an Instagram post, also revealing that Wednesday’s release is available to fans in limited quantities.

The first As Ever drop sold out in under an hour and one product — the limited-edition wildflower honey with honeycomb for $28 — had fans buzzing, selling out in less than five minutes. The featured products in the company’s first collection included $12 herbal tea in three flavors: hibiscus, peppermint and lemon ginger.

Duchess Meghan shares rare, sweet snap of Princess Lilibet: ‘The first day of spring!’

As Ever sold $14 crepe mix and $14 shortbread cookie mix with flower sprinkles. A raspberry spread also carried a $14 price point. Flower sprinkles were available for $15. As Ever is produced alongside Netflix, which also produces the former royal’s lifestyle show “With Love, Meghan,” which premiered last month and was renewed for a second season.

Duchess Meghan launched a new website for As Ever last month with a homepage featuring a photo of herself running on grass with Princess Lilibet, the 3-year-old daughter she shares with Prince Harry. The couple also share 5-year-old son Prince Archie.

The website currently has no content other than a homepage inviting followers to “save your seat at the table” by subscribing with their email address. In an Instagram video last month featuring Prince Harry, Meghan said her business will be launching in conjunction with “With Love” and she explained why she decided to change the name.

“Last year, I had thought, ‘You know what? American Riviera. That sounds like such a great name, it’s my neighborhood, it’s a nickname for Santa Barbara,’” Meghan said. “But it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area. Then Netflix came on not just as my partner in the show, but as my partner in my business, which was huge.”

Duchess Meghan introduced As Ever under different name last March

In March of last year, amid sister-in-law Princess Kate’s viral photo editing scandal, Meghan made a buzzy return to Instagram after years away to introduce fans to a lifestyle project then known as American Riviera Orchard.

The account, @americanrivieraorchard, featured nine posts on Instagram, laid out on the account’s grid to say American Riviera Orchard Montecito in a nod to her and Harry’s California home base in Santa Barbara County.

Duchess Meghan teases first product from American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand

A grainy Instagram story video to the late jazz singer Nancy Wilson’s “I Wish You Love” features vignettes of the duchess arranging flowers and cooking in the kitchen at what appears to be her home with Prince Harry in Montecito, California. The account’s bio says, “by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex” and “Established 2024” while teasing a website, americanriviera.com.

At the time, Meghan’s star-studded list of close friends treated fans to a first look at the “Suits” alum’s secret project. Fashion designer Tracy Robbins, whose husband is Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins, shared a post on her Instagram story of the first product: a strawberry jam, placed in a basket surrounded by lemons.

Now, one year later, Meghan’s lifestyle brand is finally growing beyond its royal roots.

Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Brendan Morrow; USA TODAY

April 2, 2025
Ariana DeBose says Rachel Zegler quote post was a mistake

Ariana DeBose isn’t trying to get involved in the “Snow White” drama.

The Oscar-winning actress raised eyebrows Tuesday by posting a quote on Instagram about narcissism, which came from an online rant against her former “West Side Story” co-star Rachel Zegler. DeBose has since deleted the post and said she was not aware of who the quote was about.

“I post quotes all the time and thought this one was meaningful,” she said in an Instagram story Tuesday. “Will fully cop to the fact I did not do any research on where this quote came from, nor did I know of the connection until it was pointed out to me.”

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for DeBose.

DeBose’s original post showed a bouquet of flowers along with the phrase, “Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.”

The actress also shared this quote on her Instagram story. She didn’t attribute the quote to a source, but fans recognized it as coming from a recent rant slamming Zegler.

In a since-deleted Instagram comment last week, Jonah Platt, son of “Snow White” producer Marc Platt, blamed Zegler for the Disney live-action remake underperforming at the box office. Platt criticized the actress for “dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie,” arguing “her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office.”

After sharing the “Snow White” trailer last year, the actress posted on X, “free Palestine.” She also wrote after the November presidential election that she hopes President Donald Trump and his supporters “never know peace.” She later deleted the post about Trump and apologized.

‘Snow White’ has another disappointing weekend at the box office

Platt went on to add, “Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue-collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.”

After DeBose quoted part of this comment from Platt, fans assumed she was throwing shade at Zegler, with one X user expressing surprise that she was “coming out against” her former co-star.

DeBose did not acknowledge where the quote came from after deleting the post, but she said she had “no intention of inserting myself into a news cycle.”

“This is not the first time I’ve posted about dealing with narcissism and it probably won’t be the last, but next time I’ll be sure to clarify its origins first,” she wrote in an Instagram story.

Rachel Zegler’s ‘free Palestine’ post is not the reason ‘Snow White’ is flopping | Opinion

DeBose won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Anita in 2021’s “West Side Story,” which also starred Zegler as Maria.

“Snow White” has thus far performed under expectations at the box office after facing a variety of controversies leading up to its release.

Since Platt’s comments last week, some fans have defended Zegler and argued that her social media activity was not a factor in the movie’s box office performance. In an Instagram story on Sunday, “The Last of Us” star Pedro Pascal simply posted a photo of the actress and labeled her an “icon.”

April 2, 2025
Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to the inspiration for Glory Days

He was walking out and Bruce Springsteen was walking in.

Joe DePugh, the Freehold, New Jersey native who inspired Springsteen’s hit “Glory Days” after a chance encounter in their shared hometown, has passed away. He was 75.

DePugh died after a bout with cancer, Rich Kane, a friend and long-time Freehold Borough teacher told the Asbury Park Press.

“Just a moment to mark the passing of Freehold native and ballplayer Joe DePugh,” Springsteen wrote in a post to his Instagram Sunday. “He was a good friend when I needed one. ‘He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool’ …. Glory Days my friend.”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band still rock, quake and shake after 50 years

The inspiration for “Glory Days,” released in 1984 as part of Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” album, was largely a mystery until Freehold historian Kevin Coyne identified DePugh in a 2011 New York Times article.

“Whenever we’re together, it’s the same dynamic: I’m the star and he’s the guy at the end of the bench,” DePugh told the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2011. “That’s who he has always been to me, my right fielder.”

DePugh was a stand-out pitcher who tried out for the Los Angeles Dodgers and played basketball at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, earning an English degree.

Bruce Springsteen talks ‘Road Diary’ and being a band boss: ‘You’re not alone’

Family circumstances caused DePugh to raise younger brothers, instead of them going to foster homes, Kane said. DePugh worked as a self-employed contractor and would play summer basketball, where he met Springsteen in 1973.

“Finally, I go to leave. But once I saw Bruce we went back in and closed the place,” DePugh told the Palm Beach Post of a bar they both frequented. “He had a little entourage with him. They all sat in a booth, but it was just me and him at the bar. All of a sudden, it’s 1:30 (a.m.) and they started blinking the lights.”

A decade later, the night was the setting for “Glory Days,” one of Springsteen’s biggest hit songs, going to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“I had a friend was a big baseball player\Back in high school,” the lyrics go. “He could throw that speedball by you\Make you look like a fool, boy. Saw him the other night at this roadside bar\I was walking in, he was walking out\We went back inside, sat down, had a few drinks\ But all he kept talking about was glory days.”

“When I first heard the song, I thought the song said ‘and all we kept talking about was glory days,’” DePugh told the Palm Beach Post. “And years later, I finally saw the lyrics and saw ‘all he kept talking about was glory days.’ And I thought, ‘Huh, (he) took a little shot at me!”

“I was tickled pink I would even get into the song. I certainly wasn’t going to complain about what he decided to write about,” he continued. “It’s about living in the past and letting go, especially for jocks, to get out of that and live in the present. That certainly wasn’t the first time I was accused of that.”

Springsteen and DePugh were later part-time neighbors in Palm Beach County. DePugh, like Springsteen, never strayed far from his Freehold roots, visiting the borough at least twice a year when he went from Florida to his summer place in Vermont, and again on the trip south.

“All he wanted to do was raise his brothers, play baseball, play basketball and just hang in Freehold Borough,” Kane said. “This one hurt. Joe and I were very close.”

April 2, 2025
‘Girls’ star makes rare public appearance

Lena Dunham lives a reclusive life by Hollywood’s standards, but she recently rallied in Washington, D.C. for a cause she believes in.

The creator and star of HBO’s “Girls,” 38, has stepped back from public life over the past few years but made a surprise appearance Monday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. at a Christopher Street Project-led rally for Trans Day of Visibility.

The brainchild behind upcoming Netflix series “Too Much” took to a podium and mic in a sleeveless pink sweater to deliver a speech in front of fellow activists for the event, which seeks to shine a light on issues facing the transgender community.

Dunham was among the featured speakers at the rally, which also included U.S. Reps Summer Lee, Katherine Clark, Maxwell Frost and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii among others.

Lena Dunham won’t star in new Netflix show to avoid having her ‘body dissected’

In a lengthy Instagram post Tuesday, Dunham recounted the rally for fans.

“Speaking at the rally for Trans Day of Visibility organized by @christopherstreetproject yesterday was a total pleasure and honor. We stood in front of the capital celebrating a community that has meant more to me than Instagram allows characters for,” Dunham wrote.

“It’s a privilege to get a chance to share the love and joy being in family and community with trans people has given, and to hear these politicians, leaders and organizers offer tangible ways to protect our trans loved ones right now,” she added.

Dunham continued: “The crowd and leadership were so inspiring — the youth really will save us, and the elders will show us the way.”

Lena Dunham has avoided public spotlight in recent years

In recent years, Dunham has avoided the public spotlight and attention from Hollywood, even though she has projects in the works.

She got candid about her life out of the spotlight last year, telling People in June while promoting her movie “Treasure” that “I am so lucky in that the last years have been, I would argue, the most peaceful of my life.”

“Sometimes I feel like I am boring on the phone with my friends, because I have a lovely husband who I adore collaborating with,” Dunham told People of husband Luis Felber, who she met and married in 2021 after splitting from music mega-producer Jack Antonoff in 2018.

In a New Yorker interview published in July, Dunham revealed how she’s protecting herself by remaining behind the camera in her upcoming semi-autobiographical Netflix rom-com series, “Too Much.” The 10-episode show, which Dunham co-created with Felber, stars comedian Meg Stalter (HBO’s “Hacks”) and Will Sharpe (HBO’s “The White Lotus”).

“I knew from the very beginning I would not be the star of it. First, because I had seen Meg Stalter’s work, and I was very inspired by her. She’s unbelievable; I think people are going to be so blown away. We know how funny she is,” Dunham told The New Yorker.

“I also think that I was not willing to have another experience like what I’d experienced around ‘Girls’ at this point in my life. Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again,” she added. “It was a hard choice — not to cast Meg, because I knew I wanted Meg, but to admit that to myself.”

“I used to think that winning meant you just keep doing it and you don’t care what anybody thinks. I forgot that winning is actually just protecting yourself and doing what you need to do to keep making work,” she continued.

Contributing: Anna Kaufman

April 2, 2025