Melissa McCarthy Dishes About Reporters Who Body-Shamed Her

Melissa McCarthy is not OK with folks asking about her body size. The Can You Ever Forgive Me? star recalled to InStyle a few moments she had with nasty reporters.

“Years ago, I was at a press conference for either The Heat or Tammy and somebody from a very big organization kept asking me, ‘Why do you always feel the need to be so grotesque?’” she said. “It was a huge interview with maybe 100 people in the room and he was sneering.”

She ended up telling the journalist, “‘What are we talking about? I can’t answer your question because I don’t understand it.’ He goes, ‘You look sloppy, you’re not wearing any makeup, your hair is not done, you’re yelling at people.’”

“I was like, ‘OK, so have you ever asked this of a guy? I’m playing a character. You need to get out more if you don’t think there are real women like that,’” she explained. “He goes, ‘Oh, fine, I’m aggressive, call it whatever you want. If you don’t want to answer the questions, you shouldn’t come to the panel.’”

While she stopped herself from telling him off, “I was like, ‘I really want to answer your questions. I’m sorry I didn’t wear makeup in a part. I’m sorry I didn’t look pleasant for you. But I also don’t think you should be here writing about movies.” 

Melissa also recalled another moment when a reporter asked her, “Are you shocked that you actually work in this business at your tremendous size?”

“He was like, ‘Oh, your tremendous size, you can actually work?’” she said. “I just remember all the blood drained out of me. I thought, ‘With my tremendous size, I could tackle you so quickly.’ He was looking around like, ‘She’s crazy.’”