Lena Dunham Decides to Go Vegan After Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscars Speech

Even if you missed the Oscars you've likely heard about Joaquin Phoenix's Best Actor acceptance speech. "Girls" creator Lena Dunham sure did. And, she says, it's made her want to go vegan.

“Welp, it finally happened- I do believe Joaquin Phoenix made me vegan," she Tweeted earlier this week.

Phoenix won the Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Todd Phillips' Joker. His speech has gone viral for its passionate message against drinking milk or eating meat. The longtime animal rights advocate (he is in PETA ads) connected the "commonality" between the causes of oppressed groups and highlighted the rights of animals as on par with the rights of humans.

'Fight Against Injustice'

“I think at times we feel or are made to feel that we champion different causes. But for me, I see commonality,” he said. “I think whether we’re talking about gender inequality, or racism, or queer rights, or indigenous rights, or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice. We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender, or one species has the right to dominate, control, use, and exploit another with impunity."

Will Dunham stick with a vegan diet?

While the star may have gone vegan for many reasons, we look forward to her details on what she is eating and how she is executing on her new-found dietary direction. So far, we have not seen anything about it other than the first tweet, but Dunham is nothing if not honest, open and shockingly transparent when it comes to her health challenges and personal journeys. She has been outspoken about her endometriosis, her own weight swings, and her health challenges. Her endometriosis became so problematic that she underwent a complete hysterectomy in 2018 and documented it on her social channels.

"In August [2017], the pain becomes unbearable. I am delirious with it, and the doctors can’t really explain," she wrote in Vogue. "The ultrasound shows no cysts, no free fluid, and certainly no baby. But that doesn’t help the fact that it hurts so bad that the human voices around me have become a sort of nonsense Teletubbies singsong. With pain like this, I will never be able to be anyone’s mother. Even if I could get pregnant, there’s nothing I can offer."

Diets low in meat and dairy have been linked to reduced symptoms and pain from endometriosis, and. according to Healthline, the condition can be helped somewhat by increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables, reducing red meat, and adding soy.