Melissa McCarthy landed the cover for People’s Most Beautiful issue. I’m sure she got it because she plays Ursula in the upcoming The Little Mermaid, but I’ve always found her beautiful. And she’s 52 so I love this choice. I do not love how they styled her for the issue, though. It’s some high-concept stuff that comes out more like Rubens meets Horst P. Horst. She looks like she is having fun with it anyway, but they should have let Melissa and her fashion background style herself. Her interview is sweet, though. She talks mostly about her childhood and her family, both the one she grew up with and the one she lives with now, husband Ben Falcone and her two daughters. She also talked about her style evolution and how she found blending in with the crowd “boring” and ultimately just wanted to be her authentic self.

On being a farm kid: I loved sports, I loved dressing up. I just was kind of super high-energy. We grew up on a farm so I think it gives you a really different perspective, because I went to school in town, all my friends were like, ‘Yeah, we ride bikes, we all hang out afterwards.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s just kind of me in a barn.’

On defining her style: I feel like the first two years were like, ‘We’re all going to dress alike.’ Nobody wants to stand out too much. And then I was like, ‘I think I’m bored. And then came the Mohawks and the blue hair. I mean, on the outside, I was a really good punk and gothic kid, but then I was terrible because I was really chatty. So I looked like I was going to maybe get into a fist fight. And then I was like, ‘Hi! What’s your name?’

On being insulted because of her attire: I was fascinated because when I walked down the street and I looked like that, it was the first time that I’d ever had people kind of make fun of me or say really mean things to me, even adults. I just kept thinking, ‘You don’t know me; I didn’t do anything to you.’

It was a real big eye-opener that people are just judging left and right. Luckily, instead of going back into my shell, I think that made me want to seek out people [expressing themselves] more. Because I was like, that’s so much more fun.

On how her husband helped her feel comfortable: Because (Ben Falcone’s) so constantly loving and kind. And funny and the weirdest human I know, to be honest. And somewhere in my 30s, I was like ‘I’m okay with who I am.’ And if someone wasn’t thrilled with that, that’s okay too. At some point I was like, ‘They’re not all going to like you.’ You have to learn that the hard way, but it’s a good [lesson].

On true beauty: When someone’s being their authentic self and it hurts no one else in the world … the simplest rule is: Just be kind. Nobody has to think the same things. It’s okay to be curious and be like, ‘I don’t understand what someone else is doing.’ I mean, isn’t that what love is? Loving who you love just puts more love in the world. And that has never, ever been a bad thing.

[From People]

I’m a little Pollyannaish about Melissa so I want to believe that she’s speaking about the oppressed in her last statement. As in, people should stop trying to legislate against LGBTQ+ because they don’t understand them and just be kind. But unfortunately it could also apply to I don’t understand my racist cousin who voted for Trump twice, but it’s okay and I should just love them because that’s who they authentically are and no, I am not doing that. Overall, I do think a dollop of kindness is always welcome. But it does need to be warranted, it shouldn’t be given to those who don’t spread it. I think Melissa wants to believe in a world that doesn’t exist.

In the introduction to Melissa’s article, she said she had not told her daughters Vivian, 15, and Georgette, 13, that’s she’d gotten the Most Beautiful cover yet. She said, “I think this might mean more to [them] as they get older.” I love that we are raising this generation with a different perception of outward appearance. There was a time teens would’ve held ‘beautiful’ at a premium and only defined it by how a person looked. But since Melissa finds beauty to be tied to how a person knows and sees themselves, she’s obviously passed that to her children, which is why this title would be frivolous to them. It’s also why I like a woman in her 50s getting the cover, because she knows her worth with or without People’s crown. But still, it’s always nice to get a crown, even if you can buy your own.

Photo credit: People, Cover Images and Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon