March 08--"Mike and Molly" star Melissa McCarthy said young women who say they are not feminists sound ill-informed.
"I always think, 'Oh, that sounds so dumb.' And I don't mean that in a hateful way. It just sounds so ill-informed. Do you think women should be paid less? You don't believe in equality for women? I think people have worked hard to put a negative spin on the word (feminist)," McCarthy says in the April issue of Redbook magazine.
The Plainfield native stars in the Chicago-set comedy "The Boss," due out April 8, and the upcoming "Ghostbusters" reboot. McCarthy, 45, also has a clothing line called Seven7 that's designed for a variety of sizes.
"There's an epidemic in our country of girls and women feeling bad about themselves based on what 0.5 percent of the human race looks like. It starts very young," McCarthy said. "My message is that as long as everybody's healthy, enjoy and embrace whatever body type you have."
The magazine is due to hit newsstands March 15.
