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Melissa McCarthy isn't shedding tears over her size.

"I've never felt like I needed to change," she told People recently. "I've always thought, 'If you want somebody different, pick somebody else.'"

That doesn't mean the 43-year-old funny actress is immune to criticism.

Melissa McCarthy: Designers Wouldn't Make Dresses in My Size

"Sure, criticism can sometimes still get to me," she said. "Some things are so malicious, they knock the wind out of you."

She cited a recent reference to her as "America's plus-size sweetheart."

"It's like I'm managing to achieve all this success in spite of my affliction … Would you ever put that in the headline for a male star?" she told People.

McCarthy wasn't always this confident.

WATCH: Sneak Peek of Melissa McCarthy's New Film 'Tammy'

"In my 20s I used to cry about why I wasn't thinner or prettier, but I want to add that I also used to cry about things like: 'I wish my hair would grow faster. I wish I had different shoes …,'" she revealed in the magazine. "I was an idiot … It's a decade of tears."

The "Identity Thief" star credits her husband, Ben Falcone, who starred opposite her in "Bridesmaids," for giving her the self-confidence to become a superstar.

Indeed, Falcone, 40, directs McCarthy for the first time in the new comedy " Tammy," which the couple co-wrote.

"I'll do almost anything for a laugh," McCarthy said of the bold characters she plays. "I'm completely delighted by people who think, 'I don't care what anybody else thinks, I look great in this, and I rock it and I love it.'

It's such a delightful sort of confidence."