Melissa McCarthy reveals there’s an incredibly tough side to fame as she chats with InStyle for its February issue.
The 48-year-old admits she’s been asked an array of difficult questions while doing press for her films, insisting she was even labelled “grotesque” by one reporter.
McCarthy says of being sensitive to negative reviews, “It kind of breaks my heart. I always feel like those characters become so real and personal. I really get protective.
“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?'”
The actress adds, “It was a huge interview with maybe 100 people in the room, and he was sneering. I said, ‘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.’ 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.’ 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.’”
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McCarthy then referred to an interview when “Bridesmaids” came out during which she was asked, “Are you shocked that you actually work in this business at your tremendous size?”
The actress recalls, “He was like, ‘Oh, your tremendous size, you can actually work?’ I just remember all the blood drained out of me. I thought, With my tremendous size, I could tackle you so quickly.
“There were two cameras on him, and one was on me, and he went back to that question three or four times, and I just kept talking about the script or how fun Paul Feig was. He was looking around like, ‘She’s crazy.’
“When we left, their producer was horrified and said, ‘We’ll never play what he said. I’m so sorry.’ But it happens all the time, to the point where it’s fascinating because they don’t do it to men. Not to be a jerk or single him out but when John Goodman was heavier, did anybody ever talk about his girth?”
Read McCarthy’s full interview in the latest issue of InStyle, on sale Jan. 18.
