Lena Dunham interviewed Hillary Clinton to grab millennial women voters

By Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor

Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

Hillary Clinton delivers remarks during the 2015 Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting award in Washington
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers remarks during the 2015 Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting award in Washington March 23, 2015. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RTR4UKB6
Photograph by Joshua Roberts — Reuters

Lena Dunham, the star of the popular HBO show Girls, interviewed top Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton in a bid to attract millennial women voters, according to Politico.

The interview is set to be made available online Tuesday for subscribers to Dunham’s new website, LennyLetter.com, a newsletter that is expected to focus on feminism, politics, and health. It will debut on Tuesday with the exclusive Clinton interview.

Politico, which obtained a clip of the segment, reported that Clinton is expected to discuss student debt and women’s health in the interview.

Dunham asks Clinton in the preview clip: “Do you consider yourself a feminist?” To which Clinton responds: “Absolutely. I’m always a little bit puzzled when any woman of whatever age, but particularly a young woman, says something like, ‘Well, I believe in equal rights but I’m not a feminist.’ Well, a feminist is by definition someone who believes in equal rights.”

She continues: “I’m hoping that people will not be afraid to say, that doesn’t mean you hate men, it doesn’t you want to separate out the world, so you’re not a part of ordinary life—that’s not what it means at all! It just means that we believe that women have the same rights as men.”

The segment was reportedly filmed in Manhattan on Sept. 8 and includes a cameo from comedian Amy Schumer.

According to the report:

The pair make something of an odd couple: Dunham is the queen of oversharing, while Clinton can come across as overly scripted. But in a short clip of the interview reviewed by POLITICO, the former secretary of state appears relaxed. In the full interview, Clinton will engage with Dunham in an intimate discussion about what her own life was like in college, and the ambivalence she felt in her early 20s about her own life and career path, according to a spokesperson for Dunham’s new website, LennyLetter.com.

For more on Clinton, read this Fortune report on her first Sunday talk show appearance in years.

See who made the 2025 Fortune Most Powerful Women list. The definitive ranking of the women at the top of the global business world tells us both who wields power today and who is poised to climb even higher tomorrow.