Melissa McCarthy’s Perspective On Health Is So Relatable: Everything She's Said About Her Weight Loss Journey

The Genie actress was the cover star for PEOPLE’s 2023 Beautiful issue, and she spoke to the magazine about finding self-acceptance. “Somewhere in my 30s, I was like 'I'm okay with who I am,’” she shared. “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]."

Melissa told PEOPLE that her husband, actor Ben Falcone, has helped her feel comfortable in her own skin. "He’s so constantly loving and kind. And funny and the weirdest human I know, to be honest," she said.

Melissa told More magazine in 2013 that her weight has fluctuated in the past. "I've been every size in the world,” she said, per Us Weekly.

“Parts of my twenties, I was in great shape, but I didn't appreciate it. If I was a six or an eight, I thought, 'Why aren't I a two or a four?’ 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."

Melissa told People magazine that after she landed her role on Gilmore Girls, she attempted a doctor-supervised all-liquid diet, which led her to lose 70 pounds in four months. "I’d never do that again. I felt starved and crazy half the time," she said.

Melissa was the cover star of InStyle magazine in February 2019 and talked more about her weight and experience in Hollywood.

She recalled a time that someone from a big organization interviewed her, who couldn't stop pressing her about her body: "He kept asking, 'Are you shocked that you actually work in this business at your tremendous size?' 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.'"

Melissa went on to point out that it happens all the time to her, "to the point where it’s fascinating because they don’t do it to men," she told the magazine. "Not to be a jerk or single him out, but when John Goodman was heavier, did anybody ever talk about his girth?"

Melissa has been super-clear and open about the fact that she’s struggled to find designers to dress her for big awards shows.

"When I go shopping, most of the time I'm disappointed," she told Redbook in 2014. "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."

Melissa has also spoken out about the limited fashion choices available for some women. “At a certain size, clothes just became tarp with a hole in it," she told The Guardian. "Everything was so mother-of-the-bride. I couldn’t ever put anything on and be like, ‘I love this!’ All I could say was, ‘Well, it’s on and it’s not a garbage bag.’"

Melissa has designed clothes for Lane Bryant and launched her own Melissa McCarthy Seven7 line in 2015.

“Women come in all sizes. Seventy percent of women in the United States are a size 14 or above, and that’s technically ‘plus-size,’ so you’re taking your biggest category of people and telling them, ‘You’re not really worthy.’ I find that very strange,” she told Refinery29. “I just think, if you’re going to make women’s clothing, make women’s clothing. Designers that put everyone in categories are over-complicating something that should be easy.”

While Melissa McCarthy Seven7 is no longer in production, Melissa is working on a new label, according to WSJ magazine. She shared with them in August 2019: “I’ve been every shape and size that’s out there, and I just found it harder and harder to find stuff,” she says.

She went on to say, “I thought, I’m modern and young and want to wear what everybody else is wearing. Why is this such a strange request? I just wanted to make it a little smaller and more accessible. I wanted to work on keeping prices down and for it to be for everyone.”

Melissa told Rolling Stone in 2017 that she started worrying about weight as a kid. “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, and 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 said.

Melissa explained that she gained weight after moving to Los Angeles and joining the improv troupe The Groundlings. “I stopped walking and ate shitty food. I was in good shape, then suddenly I gained 25 pounds," she said.

But Melissa said dieting isn’t for her. "I could eat healthier, I could drink less," she told Rolling Stone in 2014. "I should be learning another language and working out more, but I'm just always saying, 'Ah, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.'"

Melissa is a huge proponent of body positivity, and in 2016, she shared an empowering message on Instagram:

“We have to stop categorizing and judging women based on their bodies. We are teaching young girls to strive for unattainable perfection instead of feeling healthy and happy in their own skin," she wrote, adding this quote by Gloria Steinem at the end: "Imagine we are linked not ranked."

She talked with AARP in April 2018 about feeling "put in a box" because of her weight.“I just find it dumb and boring. I really do,” she shared. “No one’s asking a man, how do you keep your legs in shape? Which I’ve been asked. I think every time we categorize people—by weight, by race, by gender—we put them in boxes and it’s not a good thing for the world.”

Melissa lost 50 pounds in 2015—just by changing the way she thinks about her weight, according to Life & Style.

"I truly stopped worrying about it," she told the magazine. "I think there's something to kinda loosening up and not being so nervous and rigid about it that, bizarrely, has worked."

Melissa also attributed her weight loss to, well, not doing much of anything at all: “No trick, nothing to tell, just super-boring life," she told ExtraTV. "You bring it real down, you don’t do anything fun, and you go to bed at 7:30—that's the trick."

That said, Melissa has also made it clear that she’s not trying to be a certain weight. “I have [lost weight], but I'll be back again," she told Refinery29 in 2016. “I'll be up, I'll be down, probably for the rest of my life. The thing is, if that is the most interesting thing about me, I need to go have a lavender farm in Minnesota and give this up. There has to be something more."

In her July 2019 interview with WSJ, she also said that she keeps her home life simple: She gets up at 4 a.m. ("I’m like a weird old man," she says), prepares breakfast, takes out the family’s two dogs, gets her and the girls ready for the day, and then she or her husband drives them to school.

As soon as she got word she was going to star in Spy, alongside Jude Law, she started kicking up her exercise routine.

"The second I knew I was doing the movie, I started training with an amazing martial arts instructor," Melissa told Life & Style.

On April 29, Melissa posted a picture of herself and choreographer Adam Shankman on IG. "Give him my regards," Barbra Streisand, 82, wrote in a since-deleted comment. "Did you take Ozempic?” After fans jumped to Melissa's defense, Barbara apologized. The next day, Melissa, posted a fun video on Instagram proving that former co-stars are all good. Melissa posted a reel of herself reading a copy of Barbra: Celebrating an Icon. “The takeaway, Barbra Streisand knows I exist. She reached out to me and she thought I looked good,” the actress said to the camera. “I win the day,” she added. “@barbrastreisand fan club members only!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️,” she captioned the video.