If a future episode of Girls has a character being detained at the airport because of a keychain, it will be another show plot based on a true story.
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Ahead of her Saturday Night Live hosting duties on March 8, Lena Dunham stopped by Late Night With Seth Meyers to share the odd anecdote during an episode that aired Thursday night.
"The only thing that got me out of it sane was thinking that this might be an okay talk-show story," she joked to Seth Meyers. "I'm actually getting nervous talking about it, so if I do a bad job retelling the story, it's because it's so stressful for me to relive it!"
On her way to Ohio from L.A. to visit her alma mater, Oberlin College, the Girls creator and star was detained by airport security because of a self-defense keychain that her co-worker gifted to her entire staff.
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"I see two guys look at each other like, 'Oh, we got a real situation on our hands,'" Dunham said of the TSA agents after scanning her carry-on bag. "It's shaped like a cat -- it goes over your knuckles, but I guess the two ears could gut somebody."
Dunham noted that she liked the gift when she received it, but not for its defensive potential. "The crazy thing about me is that I understand intellectually that it could be used as a weapon, but really, all I thought was, what a cute little cat!"
Dunham had to "wait for law enforcement to come and assess the situation," and couldn't make any phone calls. She said she was crying while held for 45 minutes, during which no passerbys recognized her. "They're gonna Amanda Knox me, I'm gonna go away for a long time!" (Meyers joked that, from hearing the story, he would've thought shooting another episode of Girls.)
Once she was released, Dunham said she called her mom for consolation, who responded, "OMG, do you think anybody saw and tweeted about it?"
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The talk show's Twitter account also uploaded what Dunham's keychain might have looked like:
Watch the interview below:
Email: Ashley.Lee@THR.com
Twitter: @cashleelee
