Melissa McCarthy Exposes ‘Volatile’ Work Environment That Made Her ‘Ill’

Melissa McCarthy made a shocking confession about what it's been like navigating her career in Hollywood.

The actress said that after one really difficult experience working for someone whose behavior she described as "volatile" and "hostile," she won't be bullied at work, and she won't let anyone else be, either.

While speaking with The Guardian, the 52-year-old multi-hyphenate recounted an instance she had on a set that not only left her "physically ill" but feeling such a way that she's made a vow with herself to act differently in the unfortunate situation that she finds herself facing a similar ordeal in the future.

"I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill," McCarthy told the outlet. "My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness."

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When asked to detail the conditions on set, she painted an upsetting and emotionally abusive scene. "There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person. And I think that’s why the manipulation worked, because to get to me, this person would fire people I loved, which kept me quiet," she recalled. "It was very effective."

The Little Mermaid star continued, "Then one day, I was like, ‘It stops today!’ I just kept saying to them, it stops, it stops. And I know now I’ll never keep quiet again."

While she didn't admit it, the God's Favorite Idiot producer suggested that her experience working on this project–which she never named–highly influenced how McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, operate their own studio, On the Day Productions.

Before hiring anyone, McCarthy revealed that she and Falcone perform a "crazy check" on the person to see if they're nice, noting that the two don't just expect kindness on their sets, "We demand it."

She explained, "You know, we were so astounded and grateful at getting to build our own little worlds, we were like, ‘We have to build the one we’ve always talked about, where everybody gets to have an opinion and everyone is really nice. It’s going to run a lot better with no screamers or crazy egos bumbling around. Why would we risk destroying that?’"

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