“I don’t need to be muscly”: Melanie Lynskey responds following body-shaming tweet about her The Last Of Us role

Melanie Lynskey responds following body-shaming tweet

Credit: Getty

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“I don’t need to be muscly”: Melanie Lynskey responds following body-shaming tweet about her The Last Of Us role

By Amy Beecham

3 years ago

1 min read

Actor Melanie Lynskey had the perfect response to the criticism that her body type “didn’t fit” with the landscape of HBO’s The Last Of Us.

From launching the “hopepunk” genre to breaking our hearts in the emotional third episode, HBO’s dystopian series The Last Of Us is all we can talk about right now. Featuring cannibalistic humans, treacherous journeys and can’t-look-away violence, we’ve been swept up by the oppressively bleak yet heart-warming plot, as well as the talented cast which includes the likes of Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey and Melanie Lynskey.

Best loved for her role in thriller Yellowjackets, Lynskey has also made quite a name for herself as an outspoken defender of women within the entertainment industry. In fact, after she was recently body-shamed on Twitter for her role in The Last Of Us, she delivered a truly epic response. 

It all began when model Adrianne Curry made a tweeted observation (since deleted) that Lynskey wasn’t a great fit for the role of Kathleen, a Kansas City warlord who apparently defeated the FEDRA militia in that city. She’s now after main characters Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey) after they tangled with her crew.

Curry tweeted a picture of Lynskey and noted, “Her body says life of luxury… not post apocolyptic [sic] warlord. Where is [The Terminator actor] Linda Hamilton when you need her?”

However, it wasn’t long before Lynskey stepped in to defend herself and the role. “Firstly, this is a photo from my cover shoot for InStyle magazine, not a still from HBO’s The Last Of Us,” she responded. “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.”

“I understand that some people are mad that I’m not the typical casting for this role. That’s thrilling to me,” she continued. “Other than the moments after action is called, when you feel like you’re actually in someone else’s body, the most exciting part of my job is subverting expectations.”

This isn’t the first time Lynskey has been forced to address body-shaming within Hollywood. Last year, in an interview with Rolling Stone, she opened up about her experience working on Yellowjackets, and how a member of the production crew asked her how she planned to lose weight during filming.

“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,’” Lynskey recalled of the comments. 

The Last Of Us, starring Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal

Credit: Sky

She has also opened up about being body-shamed on the set of Coyote Ugly in 2000, saying: “It was ridiculous. I was already starving myself and as thin as I could possibly be for this body, and I was still a [size] four. That was already people putting a lot of Spanx on me in wardrobe fittings and being very disappointed when they saw me, the costume designer being like, ‘Nobody told me there would be girls like you.’”

Images: Getty/Sky

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