Melanie Lynskey's Partner Jason Ritter Is ‘The World’s Most Adorable Feminist’
“I know balance is not usually like this, and I'm lucky, but this should just be how it is,” she said.
Melanie Lynskey is having a banner year. The actor just received her first Emmy nomination for outstanding leading actress in a drama series, her amazing show Yellowjackets is a total hit, and she has the cutest three-year-old daughter. And now she’s telling us in her latest interview that she also has an adorably feminist husband who does everything in his power to help her achieve success and balance.
The veteran actor was recently featured on the cover of InStyle Magazine in honor of her newest accolade and sat down with co-star Danielle Brooks to catch everyone up on her life and career.
One of the highlights of their talk was definitely getting a peek inside her relationship with her partner Jason Ritter, who’s also an actor (you might recognize him from Parenthood or Joan of Arcadia, and your kids might recognize his voice from Frozen II and Gravity Falls).
Lynskey lovingly refers to him as ‘the world's most adorable feminist’ for his devotion to her career and unwavering support. She explained that Ritter will pass on gigs if they aren’t ‘life-changing’ in order to support Melanie’s career and that he unabashedly loves to hype her up on social media.
“Sometimes, my husband will tweet things about thinking I look hot or whatever, and a lot of people like it, and I said to him, 'Isn't it funny that if I was Victoria's Secret model and you tweeted the exact same thing, people would not respond the way that they do?’ People get excited because I look like I look, and my husband, he's like a cute, young actor, but I am aware that some of the responses to him are like, 'Good for you.' It's like, well, he got together with me because he found me attractive. It's not like he's throwing himself on the sword for the rest of mankind, And also — he had competition,” she said.
Lynskey and Ritter share a 3-year-old daughter and have been an item since 2013. Lynskey shares that she tries her best to create a healthy work/life balance, saying, “I know balance is not usually like this, and I'm lucky, but this should just be how it is,” when commenting on her family life, which is kept relatively private.
Are there any more single ‘Jason Ritters’ out there? Asking for a friend.
She also shared the news of her nomination on her Instagram, saying, “I’m feeling so overwhelmed and emotional, I don’t really know what to say. I am so thrilled for our Best Drama Series nomination!! That is [a] testament to the hard work and fierce talent of our ENTIRE cast and our incredible crew. And the fact that our writers were nominated for two different episodes! And our brilliant casting directors. And Karyn Kusama!! And the incredible CHRISTINA RICCI, guys. I am honoured, and I can’t wait to celebrate at the Emmys with our amazing group. Thank you to everyone who watched and cared. Thank you, @eone_tv and @showtime, for this life-changing opportunity. I want to cry, and nap, and drink wine, so off I go to do all of those things, probably at once.”
In another section of the interview, she also admits she wasn’t sure this season of her career was in the cards, but psychic reading told her it was going to happen.
"This sounds so crazy, but I talked to a psychic, who I love, and she told me this was gonna happen. She said, ‘That show's gonna get picked up, and it's gonna be really big, and you're gonna enter into a time in your career that you thought, if this didn't happen when you were 25, it was never going to happen. It's about to happen,” Lynskey shared.
The New Zealand actress also discussed the comments she’s made surrounding her weight for roles in Hollywood, even giving examples from the Yellow Jackets set.
“I'm trying to just say to myself, 'OK, you're normalizing this, and hopefully more women will come along who look like you, and people won't feel like they have to say things like that,' because there is kind of a backhanded compliment,” Melanie said.
Fingers crossed for Melanie on Emmy Day!