The Most Tragic Details About Melissa McCarthy's Life

Melissa McCarthy has had a stunning transformation in her career, starting in Hollywood with the famous improv troupe the Groundlings, to becoming an acclaimed comedic actor. However, her success didn't come without its pitfalls. Before becoming a star, McCarthy was bullied for her eccentricity as an edgy teen. Though her out-of-the-box personality ultimately paid off, as she found her niche in comedy. After playing the amiable chef, Sookie St. James, on "Gilmore Girls," McCarthy's fame rose to new heights, starring in laugh-out-loud 2010s films like "Bridesmaids" and "The Heat." However, the actor has spoken up about enduring terrible work conditions that once made her physically sick. 

Indeed, McCarthy has taken a beating from the industry, especially over her fluctuating weight. She has touched on instances of blatant fat shaming while auditioning for roles and scrutiny from the media and public. Throughout her decades in the spotlight, the "Little Mermaid" star has been candid about weight gain and weight loss, the latter leading to wild speculations about the Hollywood star. Needless to say, McCarthy's life and career have been riddled with tragedy — and the details are even more shocking. 

Melissa McCarthy has always been outgoing. While attending Catholic school as a teen, the "Life of the Party" star embraced her goth side, something for which she gained a lot of unwanted attention. In an interview with People for their 2023 Beautiful Issue, McCarthy recalled being bullied in public for her eccentric appearance, including her blue hair and mohawk. "I was fascinated because when I walked down the street and I looked like that, it was the first time that I'd ever had people kind of make fun of me or say really mean things to me, even adults," she said. "I just kept thinking, 'You don't know me; I didn't do anything to you.'"

As an adult, McCarthy's detractors moved behind the computer screen. Their comments stayed anonymous, while their tongues got sharper. Although the vitriol on social media has never pushed McCarthy back into her shell, the comedy legend acknowledged that it still stung. "Criticism can sometimes still get to me," she revealed to Image. "Some things are so malicious; they knock the wind out of you."

One way Melissa McCarthy has proven her haters wrong is through her unyielding success in the industry. Her raunchy one-liners in films like "This is 40" and "Spy" are what put her on the map as a comedic genius, and McCarthy hasn't slowed down since her 2010s hits. However, one experience on a set has traumatically stuck with her through the years. While chatting with The Guardian, McCarthy described an instance where someone on an unnamed set was so brutal to work with that she endured physical side effects. "I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill," she said without naming names. "My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness."

She detailed how this person would make people on set cry and would come up with manipulation tactics to keep McCarthy from voicing her concerns about their behavior. This included deliberately firing the people closest to McCarthy. "It was very effective," she said. That is why the actor said she and husband Ben Falcone — who co-own a production company — give every hire for their projects what she referred to as a "crazy check," to ensure that they won't have an egotist ravaging the work environment on set. 

Melissa McCarthy is known for having one of the most gorgeous celebrity weight loss transformations in the past decade. But before she was praised for her stunning figure, she endured instances of body shaming and general scrutiny over her weight. In a chat with InStyle, McCarthy recalled a time during her "Bridesmaids" era when an interviewer incessantly pressed her about her weight. "He kept asking, 'Are you shocked that you actually work in this business at your tremendous size?'" said the actor. "I just remember all the blood drained out of me. I thought, 'With my tremendous size, I could tackle you so quickly'" — one of the best celeb responses to fat shaming if she had actually said that out loud.

While McCarthy learned self-acceptance in her 30s, as she revealed in People's 2023 Beautiful Issue, there was a point where comments about her body would have torn her self-esteem apart. In a 2011 People interview, she gave the example of a Marie Claire blog post about her show "Mike & Molly." In 2010, writer Maura Kelly wrote a piece titled "Should 'Fatties' Get a Room? (Even on TV?)," where she referenced McCarthy's sitcom — which the actor starred in alongside Billy Gardell — writing that she would "be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other" (via ABC News). "It was so unkind," McCarthy told People. "I thought, 'Shame on you.' At a different point in my life, it would've crushed me. But it didn't."

Of course, when McCarthy dropped a significant number on the scale, a slew of speculations came knocking on her door. When "Mike & Molly" was abruptly cancelled in 2015, a rumor began swirling on the internet that it was due to McCarthy's dramatic weight loss, as her size was underscored in the show's plot from the very beginning. As outlined by Snopes at the time, a fake news site by the name of TMZ News — likely to be confused with the official outlet TMZ — created the rumor to sell diet pills, which they also pretended McCarthy was endorsing. The fake report was shut down, but not before spreading to social media.

Then in 2024, after showing off her incredible figure on Instagram, rumors swirled about whether McCarthy had taken Ozempic — and it was accidentally fueled by a comment from the one and only Barbra Streisand. Under a pic of McCarthy posing with friend Adam Shankman, Streisand wrote, "Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?" (via People). While the "Tammy" actor later insisted that she was flattered by Streisand's since-deleted comment, the talk of weight-loss drugs accelerated. After hosting SNL in December 2025, where McCarthy boasted her 95-pound weight loss, fans simply couldn't believe she accomplished it without a GLP-1. "Melissa 'Ozempic' McCarthy," someone wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Others demanded she confess to using the diabetes medication for her weight loss. It seemed like McCarthy was in a no-win situation; condemned if she gained weight and condemned if she lost it.