Melissa McCarthy says film boss was so brutal it made her ‘physically ill’

MELISSA McCarthy was made “physically ill” by a brutal film boss.

“The Little Mermaid” actress, 52, said she soaked up so much “nastiness” on the set of a movie she didn’t name, her eyes swelled up and colleagues wept.

McCarthy, who runs a production company with her actor husband of 18 years Ben Falcone, 49, told “The Observer” when asked if she had ever come up against huge egos in the entertainment business: “I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill. My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness.

“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.”

McCarthy told how she shut down the nastiness: “It was very effective. 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.”

McCarthy said she is so fixated on a need for compassion she wants to scream niceties at strangers.

She said: “Actually, I would not mind spending a day on the street corner just randomly complimenting people, really loudly.

“‘You have terrific pants on,’ or ‘I love your fringe!’ I’m going to have to do it, aren’t I?”