Melissa McCarthy says one workplace was so toxic it made her physically ill
![<i>Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</i><br/>Melissa McCarthy attends the UK premiere of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' on May 15.](https://ktvz.b-cdn.net/2023/05/cnn-L19jb21wb25lbnRzL2ltYWdlL2luc3RhbmNlcy9sZWRlLTkzNjgzNTNmOWRhNjk3ZDM4NDMxODkzYmNmODZjNzAx-L19wYWdlcy9oX2NiZTBhMjgyYzdjNTk5YWM1ZDA4ZDE3M2IyZWQxZjJm-300-1440x810.jpg)
Melissa McCarthy attends the UK premiere of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' on May 15.
By Marianne Garvey, CNN
(CNN) — Not every acting experience has been great for Melissa McCarthy.
The “Bridesmaids” star tells The Guardian that the environment on one unnamed project was so bad, she was inspired to start her own production company with her husband, Ben Falcone.
“I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill,” McCarthy said, adding, “My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness.”
She declined to name the production she was working on.
“There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person,” she continued. “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. It was very effective.”
McCarthy and Falcone now do a “crazy check” when they hire employees and strive to cultivate a healthy environment.
“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,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy stars in “The Little Mermaid,” which hits theaters May 26.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.