One of the stars of Twitter’s favourite TV show Yellowjackets has said she was body shamed by a member of production on set, because fatphobia, ageism and misogyny are still alive and well.
Melanie Lynskey who plays Shauna on the show told Rolling Stone that one of the production members made inappropriate comments about her weight behind the scenes.
“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 said.
Good lord, that is grim. In case anyone missed the memo, FY-fucking-I, we simply do not comment on people’s weight. We have evolved past this as a species. There is no need for you, or for anyone, to make comments on people’s weight, ever. Now someone DM the Yellowjackets production department with this PSA.
In a nice conclusion to the fucked-up tale, Lynskey said her co-stars firmly had her back which we do in fact love to see.
Tawny Cypress (who plays Taissa), Christina Ricci (Misty) and Juliette Lewis (Natalie) all supported her against the comments, with Juliette Lewis ultimately writing a letter to the show’s producers.
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Lynskey also said that it was important for her that her character was never critical of her own body.
“I did find it important that this character is just comfortable and sexual and not thinking or talking about it,” she said.
“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.”
In the interview, Lynskey also spoke about something she’s experienced throughout her career: the idea that an attractive man could never realistically fall for a woman who isn’t thin.
For example (and spoiler alerts for Yellowjacket here!), Shauna has an affair with a hot young artist called Adam (Peter Gadiot) in the show. According to Lynskey, she’s been disappointed with the response from fans saying that it’s unrealistic for someone like Adam to be sexually attracted to or genuinely interested in Shauna.
“I’m just like, ‘Wow, really? That’s where people’s heads are at, that the most important thing is being thin or young?” she said.
Newsflash: you don’t have to be thin or young to be hot! Let us please relinquish ourselves from the shackles of this horrible horrible mindset in 2022!
If you want to watch Yellowjackets — to truly understand why everyone on Twitter is screaming about it constantly — you can catch it streaming on Paramount+.
