Yahoo Movies Melanie Lynskey Says Way Friend Brittany Murphy Viewed Herself Was 'Heartbreaking': 'She Was Perfect'
J. Vespa/WireImage Brittany Murphy and Melanie Lynskey in 2004
Melanie Lynskey is opening up about the "heartbreaking" pressures her late friend Brittany Murphy felt during her Hollywood career.
In a cover interview for InStyle's Summer 2022 issue, the Yellowjackets star recalled being pals with Murphy, who died in 2009 at age 32, "and the way she viewed her self was always really heartbreaking to me — the things she felt she had to change to be a successful actor."
Lynskey, 45, noted that Murphy "was perfect just as she was, but people were trying to cast her as, like, 'the fat one,' because when she was a very young teenager, her cheeks were a little bit round."
"People tell you that you're a particular thing, and it's very hard to fight back against," she added.
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Lynskey also touched on her husband Jason Ritter, saying sometimes he'll "tweet things about thinking I look hot or whatever and a lot of people like it, and I said to him, 'Isn't it funny that if I was a Victoria's Secret model and you tweeted the exact same thing, people would not respond the way that they do?' "
"People get excited because I look like I look, and my husband, he's like a cute, young actor, but I am aware that some of the responses to him are like, 'Good for you,' " she added of Ritter, 42.
According to Lynskey, "It's like, well, he got together with me because he found me attractive. It's not like he's throwing himself on the sword for the rest of mankind."
"And also — he had competition," she said.
The Emmy nominee has been open about body shaming she has faced over the years, and revealed during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she felt pressured to lose weight while on set for Coyote Ugly. (Lynskey portrayed Gloria, the New Jersey-based BFF to Piper Perabo's Violet, in the 2000 movie.)
"All the girls had this regimen they had to go on. It was ridiculous," Lynskey said. "I was already starving myself and as thin as I could possibly be for this body, and I was still a [size] four."
"There were 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,' " she continued. "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.' Just the feedback was constantly like, 'You're not beautiful. You're not beautiful.' "
The actress added, "In your early 20s, so much of it is about beauty, and how people respond to you, and do people want to f--- you? Do people think you're their best friend? Even the best-friend thing, I started to be like, 'I don't want to do that too many times.' "
