"Girls" creator and actress Lena Dunham was honored at Variety's Power of Women brunch in New York City on Friday.

Dunham was among five other celebrities who were honored for their empowering movements, the Daily Mail reports.

Variety honored Dunham for her work with GEMS, an organization that empowers female victims of human trafficking, People reports.

While expressing her gratitude toward the prestigious honor, Lena Dunham also spoke about her personal connection to GEMS being that she is a victim of rape.

Dunham explained that she "felt powerless" following her tragic experience and suffered through immense self esteem issues.

"It took years to recognize my personal worth was not tied to my assault," she explained. "The voices telling me I deserved this were phantoms, they were liars."

Dunham courageously spoke about her sexual assault because she wanted to use her experience as a platform to help other assault victims as well as "reverse the stigma" given to many victims of rape.

"We look at youth in the commercial sex industry in America as willing participants in their own victimization, ignoring the disenfranchisement that comes with being poor, from being a child, from being a girl of color, from being a homeless LGBT youth, from being a kid in foster care," she explained.

People reports that Dunham first opened up about her sexual assault in her 2014 memoir, "Not That Kind of Girl."

The Daily Mail adds that in her book, Dunham recalled sitting in her bathtub for half an hour after being assaulted to cleanse herself from what had happened.

Other honoree's of Variety's Power of Women Brunch included Glenn Close who represented the Change 2 Mind foundation helping patients suffering with mental illness; Kim Kardashian who represented the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles; Rachel Weisz who works with the Opportunity Network; and Whoopi Goldberg who cited for support of Figure Skating in Harlem.