Melissa McCarthy Opens Up About Hurtful Rex Reed Comments on Weight

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In an interview with The New York Times, Identity Theft actress Melissa McCarthy opened up about film critic Rex Reed’s cruel comments in which he called her “tractor-sized” and a “female hippo.”

In a review of Identity Theft for the New York Observer last February, Reed bashed on McCarthy’s weight and even called her “a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success.” The actress paid no mind to the harsh comments at first, but when recently asked about them, she finally broke her silence and said she was disappointed not for her sake, but for younger girls.

McCarthy admitted that while she may have been “crushed” by the comments when she was in her twenties, now as a mother of two daughters, she doesn’t let them bother her. She is more concerned about other, younger girls who live in a world that place an emphasis on body image and who may not be in a place to brush the hurtful comments aside.

“I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate,” McCarthy added. “I just thought, that’s someone who’s in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot. I laugh my head off every day with my husband and my kids who are mooning me and singing me songs.”

Good for you, Melissa McCarthy.

Even before the actress acknowledged the comments, countless people already came to her defense, labeling Reed’s comments as a shallow critique.

In McCarthy’s latest role, she will star next to Sandra Bullock in a comedy about a cop-duo comedy called The Heat.

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