Gilmore Girls wasn’t always easy for Melissa McCarthy, here’s why

Gilmore Girls manages to do what comfort food does to us. You can rewatch the show on loop and still never get tired of its warm, fuzzy feeling.

Set in the picture-perfect, ever so quirky town of Stars Hollow, the show delivered several memorable dialogues and pop culture references. It gave us a mother-daughter bond that was and is still admired by so many. There was more bestie banter than parental drama, and that just made the show a lot more fun.

But forget the cozy coffee shop and all that town hall shenanigans. Gilmore Girls navigated some real challenges, on and off screen. And while Lorelai and Rory was at the center of it all, the world around them thrived because of characters like Sookie St. James.

Sookie was played by the hilarious Melissa McCarthy. She was the bubbly heart of the inn and the best friend everyone wished they had. She was clumsy, kind, and full of love.

Although Sookie lit up every scene she was in, playing her wasn’t always as easy for McCarthy as it seemed. In fact, her time on the show came with its fair share of behind the scenes hiccups.

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Gilmore Girls: The cozy town wasn't so cozy

Gilmore Girls gave us all the warm fuzzies of fall sweaters, steaming mugs, and the kind of chilly small-town charm that made Connecticut seem like a fairy tale. Melissa McCarthy, however, was living a very different reality on set.

Per Us Weekly, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she opened up about just how brutal filming could be. Thanks to, of all things, the weather. She said:

“Sometimes we were like crammed into small things with coats on but it was actually like 112 degrees in Burbank [California]. And we were like, ‘Brrr, Connecticut!’ And I was like, ‘Are we explaining why I have Malaria and why I’m in a full flop sweat?’”

Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls wasn’t a real town with crisp air and crunchy leaves. It was blazing hot California.

Just imagine yourself dressed in layers of wool while sweat pours down your back and your socks are sticking to your ankles. McCarthy even recalled about another incident:

"When we did our first poster, someone passed out. Like just out cold because we were all in coats and trying to look blustery and we were just sweating in weird places and [they were] like, ‘Look cold!’”

And yet, through all that sunburns masquerading as frostbite and faux snowflakes landing on a very real Melissa McCarthy's Sookie St. James, Gilmore Girls made a permanent place in our hearts.

Her friendship with Lorelai was like the warm hug we didn’t know we needed. It’s easy to forget that underneath the comedy, Melissa McCarthy, just like the entire unit, was tolerating brutal conditions to give us those heartfelt kitchen chats and culinary disasters.

Lorelai and Sookie’s friendship was mostly about emotional support. It was a full-on sisterhood with inside jokes, midnight ideas, and way too much coffee. Their dynamic felt so natural that you’d never guess Melissa was melting under layers of faux winter wear.

McCarthy and Lauren Graham in Gilmore Girls created something honest and joyful. They were two women chasing dreams, supporting each other through disasters, and building something from the ground up.

And really, that’s what made Gilmore Girls special. The charm was in the effort, the laughs, and the dedication it took to bring Stars Hollow to life, even when it was 112 degrees.

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