Emmy-nominated goddess Melanie Lynskey hits back at reality TV hasbeen

Don’t come for Melanie Lynskey, she won’t take it lying down. When a former reality TV personality hit out, Lynskey hit back.

Melanie Lynskey in The Last of Us. Picture: HBO

Melanie Lynskey isn’t having it.

The Emmy-nominated Kiwi actor took to Twitter to clap back at America’s Next Top Model winner Adrianne Curry, who she purports body-shamed her online, reported New York Post.

In a now-deleted post, Curry seemed to slam Lynskey’s figure in a photo from an InStyle cover shoot, claiming she didn’t fit her The Last of Us role as a “post-apocalyptic warlord.”

“Her body says life of luxury … not post apocalyptic warlord. where is linda hamilton when you need her?” Curry wrote on Twitter, referring to the Terminator actor’s rippling muscles and seemingly criticising Lynskey’s body type.

The tweet was shared by Lynskey in a screenshot, where she lashed Curry’s comment.

“Firstly – this is a photo from my cover shoot for InStyle magazine, not a still from HBO’s The Last Of Us,” she tweeted. “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.”

Adrianne Curry later deleted her original tweet. Picture: adriannecurry/Instagram

Firstly- this is a photo from my cover shoot for InStyle magazine, not a still from HBO’s The Last Of Us. 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 pic.twitter.com/YwkmkwUdOm

— Melanie Lynskey (@melanielynskey) February 8, 2023

While others online applauded her looks — calling the Yellowjackets star “gorgeous,” “incredible” and “healthy” — Curry attempted to right her wrong by claiming she was critiquing the character, not Lynskey personally.

“She edited out my tweet where I said she had a perfect hour glass frame that I did not associate with warriors,” the model wrote in a subsequent tweet. “Actors taking character criticism as personal attacks is mind blowing.”

“Her body is perfect. Not warlord perfect,” she added in another post. “I’m talking about a fictional character. I also said she was sorry voiced and short. The fictional character.”

Curry won the first season of America’s Next Top Model in 2003 before going on to appear as herself in other lifestyle shows. Her last onscreen gig was in 2015 when she played herself in Tales of Halloween. Curry regularly posts pro-gun and anti-feminist diatribes.

Lynskey got her break as a teenager when she was cast opposite Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures. She has had roles in But I’m a Cheerleader, Sweet Home Alabama, Away We Go, Up in the Air, Don’t Look Up, Two and a Half Men, Castle Rock and Yellowjackets, for which she was nominated for an Emmy.

Lynskey’s husband, actor Jason Ritter, also chimed in with a post that suggested Curry could have refrained from tweeting it in the first place, before he sarcastically congratulated her for playing victim.

You… you could have just… not tweeted it. But you did, and people are upset with what you said. Whatever happens now, DO NOT LEARN ANYTHING FROM THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!! Dig your heels in deeper, and double down! BECOME the victim! You can do this!! I believe in you!!

— Jason Ritter 🦋 (@JasonRitter) February 9, 2023

Her responses prompted backlash from fans of the HBO series, who slammed the model for “fat-shaming” the actor, writing, “saying someone’s body looks inappropriate is…still…personal.”

Ironically, in the very cover story at the centre of the digital feud, Lynskey spoke about feeling “tired” of others commenting on her body.

“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,” she told InStyle at the time.

Lynskey added that she hopes to normalise her body type on-screen for women who look similar to her.

Melanie Lynskey with Jason Ritter at the 2022 Emmy Awards. (Photo by Robyn BECK / AFP)

“I’m trying to just say to myself, ‘OK, you’re normalising this, and hopefully more women will come along who look like you, and people won’t feel like they have to say things like that,’ because there is kind of a backhanded compliment,” she said, referring to the comments she received about her figure.

Lynskey has spoken about being body-shamed numerous times before, including in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter last year where she discussed starving herself to stay slim when she was younger.

The actor has said that while filming Coyote Ugly she felt pressure to follow a strict diet due to the scrutiny on set.

“I was already starving myself and as thin as I could possibly be for this body, and I was still a [size] four,” she admitted, calling the intense regimens “ridiculous.”

She recalled being forced into Spanx during wardrobe changes and makeup artists giving her “a bit more jawline.”

“Just the feedback was constantly like, ‘You’re not beautiful. You’re not beautiful,’” she added.

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Emmy-nominated goddess Melanie Lynskey hits back at reality TV hasbeen