Melissa McCarthy used to cry over her weight when she was a young actress.
The ‘Bridesmaids’ star admits she cries easily but was often upset about her looks and thought she needed to be skinnier to be successful in the film industry.
She told People magazine: "In my 20s I used to cry about why I wasn’t thinner or prettier, but I want to add that I also used to cry about things like, ‘I wish my hair would grow faster. I wish I had different shoes …,’ I was an idiot … It’s a decade of tears."
These days, the 43-year-old actress – who is married to her ‘Tammy’ co-writer Ben Falcone – doesn’t care about looking silly and admires people who don’t care about the opinion of others.
Melissa said: "I’ll do almost anything for a laugh. I’m completely delighted by people who think, ‘I don’t care what anybody else thinks, I look great in this, and I rock it and I love it.’ It’s such a delightful sort of confidence."
The actress has never felt the need to change how she looks but is annoyed by horrible comments about her weight and her acting skills.
She said: "I’ve always thought, ‘If you want somebody different, pick somebody else.’ But sure, criticism can sometimes still get to me. Some things are so malicious, they knock the wind out of you."
The brunette star was described as "America’s plus-size sweetheart" in a recent article and Melissa thinks it was unfair to mention her weight.
She said: "It’s like I’m managing to achieve all this success in spite of my affliction … Would you ever put that in the headline for a male star?"
As a mother to daughters Vivian, seven, and Georgette, four, she wants them to care more about laughter and memories than looks as they grow up and she’s grateful for what she has in terms of her family and success.
She said: "Ben and I will have moments where we look at each other and go, ‘This is not bad at all’. I feel like I got hit with a lucky stick."
Melissa McCarthy: I cried over my weight
