Melissa McCarthy
I have experience dressing me as a 6, a 12, and more. And when you go above a size 12, you don't lose your love of fashion.
I loved the playfulness of fashion. I think maybe that's why I became an actress. You put on one outfit and feel one way, and another one will make you feel another way. Clothes are a wonderful tool.
I lived on a farm in Illinois, and we didn't have a lot of money. But I lived vicariously through magazines. I was obsessed with Jean Paul Gaultier. I still have the scrapbooks, and I've kept all my designs and sketches.
When I believe in something, I'm like a dog with a bone.
Once you start writing a character visually, you're in trouble.
I refuse to give energy to the negative. I've got a great fella and two great little girls.
I've never felt like I needed to change. I've always thought, 'If you want somebody different, pick somebody else.' But sure, criticism can sometimes still get to me. Some things are so malicious, they knock the wind out of you.
I was always Missy, never Melissa. I went to college, and I thought it was so much more interesting to go by a different name, and then it just kind of stuck.
Everybody's a train wreck in their own very special way. But there's something wildly freeing about someone who's unapologetic, who knows they're a wreck and doesn't even try to hide it, just bulldozes through life.
Some days, I want to be prim and proper, and others, I want to be in a band.
Nothing's more charming than someone who doesn't take herself too seriously.
In my 20s, I used to cry about why I wasn't thinner or prettier, but I want to add that I also used to cry about things like, 'I wish my hair would grow faster. I wish I had different shoes...' I was an idiot... It's a decade of tears.
As a teenager I went all Goth, but I wasn't mopey enough. I would pretend to be, but I'd end up making people laugh.
Jason Statham is funny, I never knew that.
I wanted to be a drag queen so badly. I'll bet I still own more wigs than any drag queen - I love me a wig.
I just don't lose weight easily.
I want to be healthy.
Part of being young is you think gaining 6 lbs. is the end of the world.
I don't know any neighborhoods where everyone's walking around in seven-inch heels and perfect makeup.
I'm not a great pregnant woman.
Sometimes I wish I were just magically a size 6 and I never had to give it a single thought.
I don't really know why I'm not thinner than I am.
I'm certainly not shy, but I like playing it because I love those characters that are incredibly confident but really still a mess.
I'm really happy in my life.
I am not a princess, I don't want to be referred to as a princess - I find that super creepy.
I've always had mostly gay male friends.
Even when someone gets to looking like she should be so proud of herself, instead she's like, 'I could be another three pounds less; I could be a little taller and have bigger lips.'
I watch HGTV like a maniac, and when it's bad, it's like some crazy college guy watching a football game.
To me, having 500 rolls of fabric around is the most calming thing in the world. I think it's what football is to some guys.
I'm always tinkering with something - suddenly I'll think I can work with wood, but then I'll realize I can't, so I go back to sewing.
It's funny; as I get older I'm reverting to my roots - I want to plant stuff.
I went to school for clothing and textiles and thought this is what I was going to do. Then I started working in costumes and literally said, 'I don't know if I can take the actors.'
Comedy to me is all about the bumps and bruises and weird tics.
I've never been interested in playing the boring ingenue.
My back was just destroyed after pregnancy. I almost had to have surgery, until I did Pilates and rebuilt my body.
I believe in Heaven. I don't believe that this is it, and then we're done.
I think the reason I'm an actress is because I love playing kind of a more extreme people.
I just think we tear down women in this country for all these superficial reasons, and women are so great and strong.
I'll do almost anything for a laugh.
I feel like I got hit with a lucky stick.
I want to make each piece of clothing work 15 different ways.
I didn't wear jeans for, like, a decade of my life.
When I went to college, I did clothing and textiles. It really wasn't until I moved to New York, my second night in, I did stand-up. I took a wild left turn, and instead of going back and finishing school at FIT, I started doing stand-up and acting.
Since grade school, I focused on women's clothing.
I could eat healthier; I could drink less.
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.'
I have blocks of wood all over my house; I spend all of my day knocking!
I did nothing but dramas for seven years in New York. I didn't really start anything comedic until I moved out to L.A. and found The Groundlings.
I see teenagers or people who are 21 and think, 'I was an idiot at that age.' I was running around New York like a crazy woman. Thank God I only had three and a half cents to my name. I was too immature to handle success then.