Melissa McCarthy's brilliant response to one sexist question posed to her on the red carpet by a male reporter

The critic had written a scathing piece about McCarthy, who he described as a 'good actress' only when she looked attractive

For a female actor, the red carpet poses a number of challenges.

One of the biggest, as Amy Poehler highlighted earlier this year via her #AskThemMore campaign, is having to face endless questions about their appearances, what they’re wearing and their diets, while their male counterparts deal with the career stuff.

Take Melissa McCarthy’s experience for example.

She was approached by one reporter at the Toronto Film Festival as she promoted her 2014 film Tammy, which was directed by her husband Ben Falcone.

The critic had written a particularly scathing piece about the film, and about McCarthy, who he described as a “good actress” only when she looked attractive.

“It was a lot of things and just, like, kind of 'How dare women not look beautiful, perfect and attractive in a movie,'” she told Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance on her show this week. “And he came up to me, and I was surprised that he talked to me because he was there for a different movie.”

He responded: “Well, you really looked bad.”

But McCarthy’s response was so good, she managed to change the critic’s mind.

“And I said, 'I hope you don't have a daughter,' and I didn't mean that in a mean way. And then I said, if she comes home and someone says she can't have a job because she’s unattractive, are you gonna say, 'That's right?' And he took that in his heart and he was like, 'No, I would never want that to happen. I would never in a million years want that to happen.'”

While he was, she said, a loving father, McCarthy said his attitude is reminiscent of the far wider problem of gender inequality in Hollywood.

“I said, 'Just know that every time you write stuff, every young girl in this country reads that and they just get a little bit chipped away,” the Emmy winner said. “And I just think that we tear down women in this country for all these superficial reasons and women are so great and strong, and I think he really heard that.”

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