Citing illness, Dunham postpones book tour stops

Lena Dunham at the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards – Arrivals at Nokia Theater at LA Live on August 25, 2014 in Los Angeles, CA (Helga Esteb / Shutterstock)

NEW YORK — Citing illness incurred from her weeks-long book tour, Lena Dunham has postponed two appearances in Europe until early December.

In a statement issued Tuesday through her publisher, Random House, Dunham said stops in Belgium and Germany originally planned for this week will instead take place between December 3 and December 9. “Details to come,” she added.

Dunham toured the U.S. and Canada throughout October to promote her best-selling essay collection “Not That Kind of Girl.” She first announced her postponements over the weekend on Twitter, soon after she had posted a self-described “rage spiral” of tweets denouncing allegations that as a child she had sexually abused her younger sister, Grace. The conservative National Review Online had cited passages from her book in which Dunham recalled kissing and touching her sister.

On Tuesday, Dunham released a statement to Time magazine in which she said “she did not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances.”

“Childhood sexual abuse is a life-shattering event for so many, and I have been vocal about the rights of survivors,” she said. “If the situations described in my book have been painful or triggering for people to read, I am sorry, as that was never my intention.”

“As for my sibling, Grace,” she added, “she is my best friend, and anything I have written about her has been published with her approval.”

Earlier this year, Dunham supported Dylan Farrow’s decision to write an open letter detailing allegations that her father, Woody Allen, had sexually abused her. The letter was published in The New York Times.

“To share in this way is courageous, powerful and generous,” Dunham tweeted at the time, adding a link to Dylan Farrow’s letter.