After over three decades in the business, Melanie Lynskey knows a thing or two about the challenges of being a woman in Hollywood (and all of America, TBH), and she’s refreshingly honest when it comes to how her job has impacted her body image.
Acknowledging both the pressures of the industry and her own strength, the Yellowjackets star recently told The Skimm, “It’s been a very long journey. I fought against it for a very long time—the shape that my body’s supposed to be.”
Lynskey, who previously opened up about the ridiculous body-shamers who trolled her for her appearance, recalled suffering from an eating disorder when she was younger, saying, “I spent many years not really eating, and being very worried about what I look like.”
Saying what many of us have felt, Lynskey added, “[It’s] hard to be a size 10 next to a size 0.”
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These days, though, the actor is happy to be a role model for both viewers and her daughter, whom she shares with husband Jason Ritter. “A couple of years ago, I had a miscarriage and I just didn’t really recover from it physically,” she revealed, “and having a very young daughter made me really think about: Okay, I need to be kinder to myself and accepting and saying sorry to my body for what it just went through and giving my daughter a positive example of what it looks like to have a mother who just is accepting her body.” Couldn’t agree more.
“I just think it’s good for women to get to see different shapes and sizes,” she said of her visibility onscreen. “I want to be representative of what a lot of women in the world look like.”
And before one single person opens their mouth to talk “health,” Melanie Lynskey is on top of it, okay?
