Melanie Lynskey’s Most Empowering Quotes About Body Positivity: ‘It’s Been a Very Long Journey’

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Melanie Lynskey’s Most Empowering Quotes About Body Positivity: 'It's Been a Very Long Journey'

Leading by example. Melanie Lynskey has been candid about embracing her body through the years.

“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,” the Candy star confessed during a June 2022 interview with theSkimm. “[It’s] hard to be a size 10 next to a size 0. I spent many years not really eating and being very worried about what I look like.”

Lynskey, who admitted to struggling with an eating disorder as a teenager, explained that suffering a miscarriage made her see her body in a new light.

“A couple of years ago, I had a miscarriage and I just didn’t really recover from it physically and having a very young daughter made me really think about: ‘OK, I need to be kinder to myself and accepting and saying sorry to my body for what it just went through,’” the Sweet Home Alabama actress said at the time, noting that she wanted to give her daughter, whom she welcomed with husband Jason Ritter in December 2018, a “positive example of what it looks like to have a mother who just is accepting her body.”

While Lynskey has learned to love her curves, she’s been frequently criticized by others for her appearance.

“Her body says life of luxury … not post apocolyptic [sic] warlord. Where is [Terminator star] Linda Hamilton when you need her?” former America’s Next Top Model champ Adrianne Curry tweeted in February 2023, alleging that Lynskey wasn’t the right fit to play Kathleen on HBO's The Last of Us, which premiered one month prior.

The New Zealand native, for her part, quickly clapped back at Curry’s claims. She wrote via Twitter: “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.”

She continued at the time: “I’m also grateful because the love and support I receive from you all is so overwhelming and powerful — I feel like we are a community and I feel very seen and loved. I’m so grateful to Craig and Neil for creating a truly new character. Someone I have never seen before. And for trusting me with her. … The thing that excited me most about doing #TheLastOfUs is that my casting suggested the possibility of a future in which people start listening to the person with the best ideas.”

Not only has Lynskey stood up for herself against trolls, but she also has the support of the Parenthood alum, whom she married in 2020.

“If anyone has any further unsolicited comments about *anybody* else’s body, they can feel free to write them in permanent ink onto their own foreheads and swan dive directly into the sun,” Ritter tweeted in January 2022, cosigning one of the Yellowjackets star’s past clapbacks over criticism about her appearance.

Scroll below to read Lynskey’s most empowering quotes about body positivity:

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March 2023

“I just sort of feel like it’s the year 2023, are we not in a place where we can accept that people have different kinds of bodies?” Lynskey said during an appearance on the Today show. “Really, like there’s still a lot of people with slender, wonderful bodies around on television. Just let there be a couple of women who represent the vast majority of women in the world [too].”

She added: “I just don’t understand what the issue is and I’m just over it. It’s exhausting.”

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February 2023

Curry reposted an image of Lynskey’s InStyle photo shoot via Twitter, arguing that the actress did not look like a “post-apocalyptic warlord” as her character on The Last of Us would be.

The Heavenly Creatures star quickly chimed in, replying that her character does not need to be “muscly” in order to plot government coups.

Credit: Youtube

August 2022

“Sometimes, I get tired of hearing about my body, even when it is positive, 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,” the Ever After actress told InStyle. “I think my default setting is kind of pessimism, and I’m trying to work against it … [But] you can’t live in despair. You have to have the energy to keep fighting and despair kind of makes you want to sink into bed and never get out. So, I’m trying to just have hope and realize there are people who feel the way [I] feel. There are people who want things to get better for everybody.”

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June 2022

“I just think it’s good for women to get to see different shapes and sizes. I want to be representative of what a lot of women in the world look like,” Lynskey told theSkimm about embracing her body as it is.

Credit: Youtube

January 2022

In a Rolling Stone profile, the Don’t Look Up star clapped back at some fans’ belief that her Yellowjackets character shouldn't have an attractive love interest.

"I'm just like, 'Wow, really? That's where people's heads are at, that the most important thing is being thin or young?'" Lynskey said at the time, noting that she was more hurt when a colleague made comments about her body. “They were asking me, ‘What do you plan to do? I’m sure the producers will get you a trainer. They’d love to help you with this.’”

The Emmy Award nominee’s costars Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis all supported her. Lewis even penned a heartfelt letter in Lynskey’s defense, which was sent to the show's producers.

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January 2022

After Yellowjackets premiered, Lynskey echoed writer Ashley C. Ford’s sentiments about viewers being “confused” to see that she wasn’t “thin” and actively trying to lose weight.

“Most egregious are the ‘I care about her health!!’ people,” she tweeted at the time. “Bitch you don’t see me on my Peleton! You don’t see me running through the park with my child. Skinny does not always equal healthy.”