Melanie Lynskey Says She Was Body-Shamed On The Set Of “Coyote Ugly” While “Starving” Herself For The Role

Melanie Lynskey has dealt with body-shamers throughout her life — dating all the way back to her role in Coyote Ugly.

While she was working on the film in 2000, Melanie says her appearance was constantly criticized by other people on set.

In fact, Melanie claims that she and her female co-stars were put on a “regimen” to get them to be as thin as possible.

“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,” Melanie told the Hollywood Reporter.

She says that when she went into wardrobe fittings, she was forced to wear “a lot of Spanx” — and people were “very disappointed when they saw” her.

“The costume designer [was] like, ‘Nobody told me there would be girls like you,'” Melanie shared, adding, “Really intense feedback about my physicality, my body, people doing my makeup and being like, ‘I’m just going to help you out by giving you a bit more of a jawline and stuff.'”

She says the comments were hard for her to deal with, especially as someone in their early 20s.

“Just the feedback was constantly like, ‘You’re not beautiful. You’re not beautiful,'” Melanie explained.

She continued, “In your early 20s, so much of it is about beauty, and how people respond to you, and do people want to fuck you? Do people think you’re their best friend?”

Earlier this year, Melanie revealed that a production member insinuated she needed to lose weight for the part, explaining, “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.'”

Thankfully, she didn’t let the comments affect her this time — and had the entire cast supporting her, even penning a letter to producers on her behalf.

“I did find it important that this character is just comfortable and sexual and not thinking or talking about [her body], because I want women to be able to watch it and be like, ‘Wow, she looks like me, and nobody’s saying she’s the fat one.’ That representation is important,” Melanie shared.