Everything the Actress Has Said About Her Health

Melissa McCarthy has been open about her weight loss journey over the years.

Throughout her career, the Bridesmaids star has faced scrutiny over her appearance, telling PEOPLE in March 2011 that she was once told by a manager that she’d never work in Hollywood if she didn’t lose weight. However, that fueled her desire to be successful.

“It really hurt my feelings,” she said. “I understand that the odds are not as high as if I was skinny, but I still have talent. I thought, ‘I’ll show you!’ ”

Over the years, McMarthy’s weight has fluctuated, with the actress telling Refinery29 in March 2016 that she’ll “be up, I’ll be down, probably for the rest of my life.” However, as she’s grown older, the actress has put less focus on weight loss and more energy into her family with husband Ben Falcone. (The couple share two daughters: Vivian and Georgette.)

“[Falcone is] so constantly loving and kind,” she told PEOPLE in April 2023, when she graced the cover of the 2023 Beautiful Issue. “And somewhere in my 30s, I was like ‘I’m okay with who I am.’ And if someone wasn’t thrilled with that, that’s okay too. At some point I was like, ‘They’re not all going to like you.’ You have to learn that the hard way, but it’s a good [lesson].”

Here’s everything Melissa McCarthy has said about her weight loss journey.

She lost weight gradually

During a May 2018 interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club, McCarthy opened up about losing “a lot” of weight. The actress explained that she shed pounds gradually, over the course of five years.

“I think everybody’s always kind of working on something,” she said. “And I was like, ‘If I can de-stress and just do it slower and stop constantly trying to be on something.’ And then it actually worked better instead of being like, ‘I’m gonna not do this and do this and only drink this.’ ”

McCarthy added, “I was like, ‘I’m just gonna mellow out, give myself a break.’ ”

McCarthy has struggled with her body image since she was a teenager

During a February 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, the actress shared that high school was “too soon” for her to be battling with anxieties about her weight — but it happened anyway.

“I do think I worried about weight too soon, when it was only little-kid weight,” she said. “I thought I battled weight throughout high school, but I look back at pictures of me as a cheerleader, doing sprints, lifting weights, doing gymnastics, playing tennis, while I wasn’t reed-thin like some girls … I was a size six the entire time. So what on Earth was I freaking out about?”

She added, “We’re so f—– up in this country that somehow equates that with better.”

She tried an extreme diet while filming Gilmore Girls

McCarthy landed the role of Sookie St. James in the hit show Gilmore Girls in 2000. While she told PEOPLE in March 2011 that “weight never came up” when she worked on the series, she still tried an extreme diet in 2003.

The doctor-supervised, all-liquid diet of 500 calories a day caused her to lose 70 lbs. in four months.

“I’d never do that again,” she said. “I felt starved and crazy half the time.”

She’s been open about disappointing shopping experiences

McCarthy has been candid about the many disappointing shopping experiences she’s had in Hollywood. While speaking with Redbook in June 2014, the actress revealed that designers often didn’t want to dress her for red carpets.

“When I go shopping, most of the time I’m disappointed,” she said. “Two Oscars ago, I couldn’t find anybody to do a dress for me. I asked five or six designers — very high-level ones who make lots of dresses for people — and they all said no.”

McCarthy later told More magazine in May 2015 that even shopping for regular clothes posed an issue.

“People don’t stop at size 12. I feel like there’s a big thing missing where you can’t dress to your mood above a certain number,” she said. “[Malls] segregate plus-size. It’s an odd thing that you can’t go shopping with your friends because your store is upstairs hidden by the tire section: ‘We’ll put you gals over there because we don’t want to see you and you probably don’t want to be seen.’ ”

Her perspective on weight loss changed after having children

After welcoming her two daughters, McCarthy’s approach to weight loss changed. While speaking with PEOPLE in March 2011, the actress shared that she didn’t limit herself during her first pregnancy.

“It was the first time I ate something and didn’t give it a second thought. If I wanted a piece of toast, I’d have one,” she said. “It felt magical.”

With her second pregnancy, McCarthy told PEOPLE that she wasn’t shedding pounds “as easily,” and she began worrying about her weight again. However, she made it a point not to have a “goal weight” and rather would “know when I feel good.”

In her March 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club, McCarthy shared that after she had children, she had to “be realistic” about weight loss and know that it wasn’t “going to go fast.”

McCarthy also shared that she wanted to set a good example for her daughters and show them how to have a healthy balance.

“I want to show them how to be healthy,” she said. “My husband and I always make a pot of vegetable soup that we puree and keep in the fridge. They don’t eat processed foods. But if my oldest daughter wants a cupcake, once in a while I’ll let her have it.”

She’s advocated for body positivity

McCarthy has always been outspoken about inclusivity and body positivity. During an interview with Redbook in March 2016, she shared that she wouldn’t want her daughters to worry about body image.

“Give me your best punch in the face, and I’ll take that punch, rather than have my kid feel bad about herself … There’s an epidemic in our country of girls and women feeling bad about themselves based on what .5% of the human race looks like,” she said. “It starts very young. My message is that as long as everybody’s healthy, enjoy and embrace whatever body type you have.”

The Tammy actress echoed that sentiment in an April 2016 Instagram post, which featured an image that read, “Reflections in this mirror may be distorted by socially constructed ideas of beauty.”

“We have to stop categorizing and judging women based on their bodies,” she wrote in the caption. “We are teaching young girls to strive for unattainable perfection instead of feeling healthy and happy in their own skin.”

In her March 2016 interview with Refinery29, McCarthy jokingly added that if her weight is “the most interesting thing about me,” then she’s going to “go have a lavender farm in Minnesota and give this up.”