Melanie Lynskey says her Mrs. America co-stars Cate Blanchett and Sarah Paulson helped her negotiate better on-set accommodations for Yellow jackets after they offered their trailers for her to pump and breastfeed while they all worked on the limited Hulu series.
In a new interview with The independent which was published Saturday, Lynskey opened up about navigating Hollywood, including turning down roles and why she Mona Lisa Smile audition made her feel “seen,” her career resurgence (and whether she thinks it will last), as well as the more difficult time in her relationship with husband Jason Ritter as he dealt with his alcohol addiction.
During the conversation, she praised her Mrs. America co-stars Blanchett and Paulson, both women — who were higher on the limited series’ call list — called “generous” after validating and supporting her through her first time as a first-time working mom. Lynskey described that experience—doubling starting work and being a mother—as “really difficult,” but that when she would come “and burst into tears,” Blanchett “was very there for me.”
That included starring on the show and Paulson offering her their trailers so she could pump and breastfeed somewhere private.
“These generous women gave me the things they were given in their contract so that my life as a mother would be easier,” she said before adding when Yellow jacketsnegotiations began, she then “asked for the world.”
“I wouldn’t do that again!” she added.
I still speak of her experience Yellow jacketsLynskey also clarified her previously reported comments about body shaming while she was filming the Showtime series. The actress explained that since those comments were published, it “has been made out as a cultural thing, but it was literally a one-off” and only involved one person who made the mistake.
But her opening up about the incident in public led to series co-creator Ashley Lyle writing her an email that Lynskey says she will “keep forever.”
“Ashley said how proud she was that she made a show where a normal-sized woman is in a love triangle with two hot guys,” she recalled. “She said if she had seen something like this when she was a teenager it would have changed the course of her life. She said they love me, and they love the way I look.”
At another point in the interview, Lynskey also shared more about how she and her husband Ritter got through a period when he struggled with alcohol addiction. The two started talking about it together for the first time The Drew Barrymore Showin an honest and vulnerable segment that went viral.
Returning to that moment, the actress shared that while the duo love each other very much — something that was evident during their teary-eyed daytime — “there wasn’t always light at the end of the tunnel.”
At one point, Lynskey said the duo were having a “goodbye party” as they considered a breakup, with “just the two of us locked in a house for a weekend to try and get it out of our systems.” It didn’t last long though, as the two reconnected the next day.
“It was crazy for a while. Things got a lot easier once my husband got sober, which I’m so proud of, but we weren’t two people ready for a relationship at all,” she said. “We were at a bad time in our lives, but I’m so thankful I found him.”
