Funny woman Melissa McCarthy has taken Hollywood by storm with her Emmy winning sit-com "Mike & Molly" and her No. 1 hit movie "Identity Thief," but the 40-year-old actress says she is the most happy knowing she broke the stereotype that women need to look a certain way to make in the entertainment business.
"The letters I really love are from young actresses who were worried they had to fit a certain look. They say I've opened it up. And I don't just mean plus-size girls," McCarthy told More. "You can push things now. With all the great performances in Bridesmaids, it changed how people see funny women."
But even though there's been a change in the perception of funny women, McCarthy's weight is still the punch line of many tasteless jokes. Take The New York Observer's review of her film "Identity Thief," for example, where Rex Reed called the actress a "tractor-sized" "female hippo" and later said he wouldn't apologize for what he said.
Regardless, McCarthy insists her weight isn't an issue for her.
"I've been every size in the world. Parts of my twenties, I was in great shape, but I didn't appreciate it. If I was a 6 or an 8, I thought, 'Why aren't I a 2 or a 4?'" she recalls. "Now I feel like I have two great kids and the dreamiest husband on the planet, and everything else is just a work in progress."
She adds that she learned to stop worrying about her weight when she became a mother and ceased focusing "on the stupid stuff I worried about at 20, because at 20 you don't have any responsibilities, so of course you're a shallow narcissist. You can't appreciate anything, you're so self-absorbed. I bought into it -- I should be taller, thinner, have better hair. But I think that's part of being young. Now, especially with kids, you lose any sense of time or energy to worry about all the little stuff. It's like the chip was taken out."
As for where she gets the strength to turn a blind eye on all the criticism, the "Bridesmaids" star says she owes it all to her husband.
"I got hit with the lucky stick with Ben [Falcone]," she says.
At which point Falcone interrupts and tells the magazine, "We got hit with the same lucky stick. From the very first time we spoke, we were on the same page. We love each other, respect each other and try not to sweat the small stuff. And we really make each other laugh."
