Lena Dunham: I was coddled as a child

Lena Dunham’s parents rarely let her go out of the house alone when she was younger.

The 28-year-old actress admitted she was barely allowed to go to the local shop without her mother and father during her early years because she was so protected, and as a result she had to act out all her individual adventures in her own imagination.

Speaking at a New York screening for her new HBO documentary, It’s Me, Hilary – which tells the story of Eloise children’s books author Hilary Knight – she said: ”My parents didn’t really let me out of the house alone, I was pretty coddled, so probably reading the ‘Eloise’ book was my way in. In my head, I had a bunch [of adventures], but in reality they were like, ‘You aren’t even allowed to go to the corner store.’ ”

Lena – who produces the new documentary – has recently embarked on a new health kick and while the Girls star insists she is not on a ”crazy diet,” she is hoping her new life regime will help her to live past 50 years old.

She added to PEOPLE: ”I don’t think anyone’s gonna be like, ‘You look so good it’s ruined my life. There’s nothing anti-feminist about being healthy. I’m just exercising to be a person who will live past 50. I’m not like on a crazy diet.”