If you’re on any form of social media that you visit with any sort of regularity, you know quite well that some things don’t need to be tweeted/uploaded/TikTokked. But that doesn’t stop a lot of people, especially women who feel perfectly content in body-shaming other women online. Unfortunately, when you come for Melanie Lynskey, you best not miss.
On Wednesday, former model and winner of the first season of America’s Next Top Model and ex-wife of Peter Brady, Adrianne Curry, commented on a photo of Lynskey’s body on Twitter. Though the tweet has since been deleted, screenshots live forever.
Related: Someone told Melanie Lynskey to lose weight, and the cast of ‘Yellowjackets’ was NOT having it
Lynskey is currently starring in HBO’s hit post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us,” and, well, Curry just doesn’t think curvy women would exist in a post-apocalyptic world. (Hmmm, I wonder if that has anything to do with society’s overall consensus that curvy and fat women shouldn’t exist in our current world? Weird!)
In Curry’s since-deleted tweet, she says: “her body says life of luxury…not post apocolyptic [sic] warlord. Where is linda hamilton when you need her?”
Sigh. *rubs temples* WHY. Just…why. What. Is. The. Point. Melanie Lynskey has been gracing the big screen and filling our hearts since the days of “Ever After,” “Coyote Ugly,” and “You have a baby…in a bar.” She’s whip-smart, insanely talented, and overly generous. Why does the general public think it’s OK to criticize her body shape? Publicly?
Leave it to Lynskey to handle it like a pro.
“Firstly- this is a photo from my cover shoot for InStyle magazine, not a still from HBO’s The Last Of Us,” Lynskey responded, pointing out that the photo in question was a literal cover shoot and not her in character for the apocalypse show. “And I’m playing a person who meticulously planned & executed an overthrow of FEDRA. I am supposed to be SMART, ma’am. I don’t need to be muscly. That’s what henchmen are for.”
BOOM.
This is, I believe, the third or fourth time in the last year I’ve written about someone being a fatphobic jerk to Melanie Lynskey. When her hit Showtime show “Yellowjackets” first premiered, she recalled producers tried to get her to lose weight. She and her co-stars fought back against such an archaic and sexist request, thankfully.
Related: Melanie Lynskey’s acceptance speech goes viral after she thanks her nanny
Curry has since doubled down on her criticism, undoubtedly because she didn’t expect Lynskey to respond directly. Jason Ritter, Melanie Lynskey’s partner and co-parent, acknowledged the incident on Twitter as well.
You… you could have just… not tweeted it. But you did, and people are upset with what you said. Whatever happens now, DO NOT LEARN ANYTHING FROM THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!! Dig your heels in deeper, and double down! BECOME the victim! You can do this!! I believe in you!!
— Jason Ritter
(@JasonRitter) February 9, 2023
Others have done that thing where they pretend they’re concerned for her health, which isn’t at all true and is just an excuse to be a body-shaming jerk and not feel bad about it.
What if we all just…didn’t comment on other people’s bodies without an explicit invitation to do so? How radical that would be.
“Sometimes, I get tired of hearing about my body, even when it is positive,” she told InStyle last summer. “I just, you know, feel like I need a break from thinking about it and hearing about it and I think all women feel that way.”