Lena Dunham bans release of retouched photos

Actress Lena Dunham is banning photo editors from retouching her images.

The Girls creator and star, who is known for her larger figure, recently became engaged in a dispute with bosses at Spain's Tentaciones magazine after she accused them of digitally altering her cover shot to make her look slimmer.

Lena posted the shot, which featured her wearing a white sleeveless shift dress, on Instagram.com, and suggested it was "more than the average photoshop", adding it was, "NOT what my body has ever looked like or will ever look like".

Tentaciones officials hit back in an open letter to the actress, insisting they had not reworked the image, and Lena subsequently had to backtrack after learning her representatives had approved the slimmed-down shot long before magazine editors licensed the snap from a photo agency.

The furor prompted Lena to tackle the issue with her managers, and in the new edition of her Lenny newsletter, the 29-year-old reveals she has decided not to allow any retouched images to be released from now on.

"Not done with getting my picture taken (once an insufferable ham, always an insufferable ham) but done with allowing images that retouch and reconfigure my face and body to be released into the world," Lena writes.

The defiant star goes on to insist she has no problem losing out on top magazine shoots if they choose not to use her au natural pictures.

"The gap between what I believe and what I allow to be done to my image has to close now," she continues. "If that means no more fashion-magazine covers, so be it.

"I respect the people who create those magazines and the job they have to do. I thank them for letting me make a few appearances and for making me feel gorgeous along the way. But I bid farewell to an era when my body was fair game."

The news of Lena's photo decision emerges three days after she was hospitalized for a ruptured ovarian cyst, relating to her battle with endometriosis. She underwent surgery over the weekend (05-06Mar16) and was discharged on Monday (07Mar16).