Melanie Lynskey thanks nanny during Critics Choice Awards acceptance speech

‘She’s with my child and my child is safe and taken care of and she allows me to go and do my work,’ Yellowjackets star says about daughter’s nanny

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Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey took the opportunity to thank her daughter’s nanny after taking home the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series during the 2022 Critics Choice Awards.

During her acceptance speech on Sunday, the 44-year-old New Zealand actress thanked her daughter’s nanny for allowing Lynskey to go to work knowing that her three-year-old is in good hands.

“The most important person I think I have to thank before I finish is my nanny, Sally. I love her,” Lynskey said. “She’s an absolute angel. She’s with my child and my child is safe and taken care of and she allows me to go and do my work.”

“Thank you, Sally,” she added. “I love you so much.”

After giving a special shout out to the “beautiful” cast of Showtime’sYellowjackets, Lynskey also thanked her husband Jason Ritter, who she called “the love of my life” and “the greatest support”.

Lynskey and Ritter were married in 2020 after first meeting while filming 2013’s The Big Ask. The two announced their engagement in February 2017 and welcomed their daughter in December 2018.

“Happy birthday, beautiful husband,” Lynskey wrote in an Instagram tribute for Ritter’s birthday on 17 February. “Thank you for making me cry with laughter daily. Thank you for giving our little daughter the safest, most joyful, most loving childhood.”

The Parenthood actor shared his praise for Lynskey on Twitter during Sunday’s award ceremony, where he reacted to his wife’s win for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

“I am sorry to do this and she will be embarrassed that I did this but my GOODNESS what an absolute beaut my wife is!!!” Ritter, 42, tweeted. The actor also publicly congratulated his wife, even though he had been texting her too.

“​​Congratulations on your CRITIC’S CHOICE AWARD @melanielynskey !!! (I am also texting you),” Ritter said.

Lynskey stars as the adult version of Shauna in Yellowjackets, a psychological drama series about a girl’s soccer team that gets stranded in the mountains after a plane crash. The actress recently detailed some of the “egregious” body-shaming comments she’s received on social media since Yellowjackets premiered last November. Lynskey also revealed she was bodyshamed behind the scenes of the Showtime series, when a crew member approached her about losing weight. “They were asking me, ‘What do you plan to do? I’m sure the producers will get you a trainer. They’d love to help you with this,’” Lynskey said.

The Don’t Look Up actor said that her three co-stars – Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and Tawny Cypress – wrote a letter to the producers about the incident on her behalf.