Elle magazine has been receiving flack from some over their "Women in Hollywood" issue that features several different covers, with one being of Melissa McCarthy.
Those who appeared on the cover included Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, McCarthy, Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz, ET Online notes. The issue people are up in arms about is that they feel that the magazine was trying to hide McCarthy's bigger frame as opposed to the others, with the exception of Cruz whose picture was just of her face.
"This year, Elle's token plus-size cover girl is McCarthy, who was photographed in a Marina Rinaldi coat so huge that she could hide her Mike and Molly co-star Billy Gardel underneath," June Thomas of Slate wrote in a blog. "... Perhaps photographer Thomas Whiteside only knows how to photograph the usual stick insect models, because he clearly has no clue how to highlight McCarthy's curves."
Elle released a statement defending the cover and noting that McCarthy herself was a fan. "On all of our shoots, our stylists work with the stars to choose pieces they feel good in, and this is no different: Melissa loved this look, and is gorgeous on our cover."
According to USA Today, McCarthy is happy she got to participate in the shoot. "Listen, until I am stopped at the gate I'm going to keep showing up."
"(Elle is) a magazine I grew up with and I hadn't done anything quite like that. I was nervous." She added, "It was kind of amazing."
image: Elle