Melissa McCarthy is responding to New York Observer critic Rex Reed’s scathing review of her film Identity Theif back in February, taking the high road and brushing it off.
Reed called the actress “tractor-sized” and “obese” among other harsh words in the review.
But McCarthy tells the New York Times in a new interview that her first reaction upon hearing about the review was "Really? Why would someone O.K. that?"
She went on to say, "I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate. 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."
Reed also called The Heat star a “female hippo,” and the actress thinks those kind of words would’ve “crushed” her if she read them back when she was 20. However, she has two daughters who are impressionable about weight and body issues. Reviews like this "just add to all those younger girls, that are not in a place in their life where they can say, 'That doesn’t reflect on me,'" she said.
"That makes it more true. It means you don’t actually look good enough,” she said.
image: NBC