Melissa McCarthy: Gracing PEOPLE's Beautiful Issue Cover Is 'Saying Something Lovely to My Younger Self'
The Little Mermaid star says she was "incredibly flattered" upon hearing she would be on PEOPLE's 2023 Beautiful Issue cover
When Melissa McCarthy heard the news that she had been chosen to grace the cover of PEOPLE's 2023 Beautiful Issue, her first thought was "Did my mom and my dad have the two main votes?"
All joking aside, the Little Mermaid star admits she was "incredibly flattered" over the honor.
"I thought the younger version of myself or everybody out there who isn't the youngest or whatever... I felt like it was saying something really lovely to my younger self, to my 20-year-old self," she tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story. "And maybe to other people, too."
Married since 2005 to her husband and producing partner, actor Ben Falcone (with whom she has two kids: Vivian, 15, and Georgette, 13), McCarthy, 52, did let him in on the fiercely guarded secret.
"He said, 'Well, I think so too.' Because he's sweet," she says. "I haven't told the girls. They were trying to talk me into getting yet another gecko, so I haven't gotten around to telling them yet. I think this might mean more to [them] as they get older."
Related: Melissa McCarthy's Ursula Makes a Deal with The Little Mermaid in New Footage from Remake: Watch
As a kid growing up in rural Illinois outside of Chicago, "Missy" McCarthy describes herself as "very kind of 100 miles an hour into every possible thing."
"I loved sports, I loved dressing up. I just was kind of super high-energy," she says. "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.' "
The Gilmore Girls alum's high school years were much more about finding herself.
"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,' " McCarthy says.
For more from Melissa's McCarthy's exclusive interview, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
"And then came the Mohawks and the blue hair," she adds. "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?' "
It was also the first time the Tammy actress, co-writer and co-producer was exposed to judgment and criticism.
"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," she recalls. "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," the actress continues. "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."
McCarthy credits Falcone, 49, for helping her finally feel comfortable in her own skin.
"Because he's so constantly loving and kind. And funny and the weirdest human I know, to be honest," she says with affection. "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]."
Now, the actress is intent on helping others find peace of mind as well.
"When someone's being their authentic self and it hurts no one else in the world ... the simplest rule is: Just be kind," she says. "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," McCarthy adds. "And that has never, ever been a bad thing."
The Little Mermaid swims into theaters May 26.
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