Melissa McCarthy can't resist doing stunts despite chronic injuries

Melissa McCarthy can't resist doing a lot of her own stunts despite suffering from chronic injuries as the result of her film work.

The Bridesmaids star was warned by professionals to avoid doing certain stunts on screen to protect her body, but she ignored their warnings at the time and is now paying the price.

"Stuntwomen would be like, 'You should not be doing it' and I'm like, 'I love it, I really did love it.' And they're like, 'Yeah but the thing is, you're gonna get around 50 and you're gonna be an old beat-up stuntwoman.' And that's exactly what happened," the 54-year-old said on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast. "My hips are crazy. This meniscus (knee cartilage) is still ripped out at the root. It's been like seven years. I've just got weird things where I'm like, 'Oh, this is what they meant!'"

McCarthy confirmed that she had "chronic injuries" but insisted that she still likes to throw herself into the physical comedy-style stunts.

"Still if we go to do something again, I'll be like, 'No, I'm gonna (do it).' (But) I've gotten better (at saying no to some stunts)," she added.

While most actors find wire work uncomfortable, the Spy star noted that she thrived in that environment while shooting her 2021 superhero comedy Thunder Force with Octavia Spencer.

"Now, anything up on wires, I love. It's literally my happiest place on the planet. Spinning and turning and flipping, I love it," she gushed.

McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone appeared on the podcast to promote their new scripted comedy podcast, Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire.