Melissa McCarthy recalls interview when she was asked about her 'tremendous size'

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Los Angeles: Actor Melissa McCarthy has recalled an old interview where the interviewer tried to body shame her by asking questions about her "tremendous size".

The 48-year-old actor, who is currently enjoying critical acclaim for her performance in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?", told InStyle magazine that the incident happened during the press tour of her 2011 film "Bridesmaids".

"I do remember another interview I did for 'Bridesmaids' with somebody who later lost his job for a conversation he had on a bus with someone else. I won't mention names, but just think about it. He kept asking, 'Are you shocked that you actually work in this business at your tremendous size?'" McCarthy said.

She said the interviewer continued to ask questions along the lines of "Oh, your tremendous size, you can actually work?" and revealed that after a while, she felt "all the blood" rush out of her body. 

"I thought, 'With my tremendous size, I could tackle you so quickly,'" she said.

"There were two cameras on him, and one was on me, and he went back to that question three or four times, and I just kept talking about the script or how fun Paul Feig was. He was looking around like, 'She's crazy.' When we left, their producer was horrified and said, 'We'll never play what he said. I'm so sorry,'" she added.

The actor revealed that such experiences "happen all the time" and said it is "fascinating" as men never face these questions.

"Not to be a jerk or single him out, but when John Goodman was heavier, did anybody ever talk about his girth?" McCarthy asked.

She also recalled a press conference for either "The Heat" or "Tammy," when a separate interviewer "from a very big organization" asked her, "Why do you always feel the need to be so grotesque?"

"It was a huge interview with maybe 100 people in the room, and he was sneering. He goes, 'You look sloppy, you're not wearing any makeup, your hair is not done, you're yelling at people.' I was like, 'OK, so have you ever asked this of a guy? I'm playing a character. You need to get out more if you don't think there are real women like that'," McCarthy said.