Celebrity
Melissa McCarthy Brought Her Daughter Vivian To The Little Mermaid Premiere
It was a rare public appearance for the 16-year-old!
When Melissa McCarthy attended the premiere of Disney’s new live-action version of The Little Mermaid, in which she took on the role of Ursula the Sea Witch, it was a momentous occasion worthy of bringing some of her most precious people with her along for the ride. Her husband Ben Falcone, of course, attended the premiere with her, but she also brought her 16-year-old daughter Vivian, who is a rare sight on the red carpet.
McCarthy and Falcone posed with Vivian on the red carpet outside of the Los Angeles premiere of The Little Mermaid on Monday night, with McCarthy decked out in blue as Falcone and Vivian matched in all black. While the couple’s 13-year-old daughter Georgette was not at the premiere, it stands to reason that she’ll be tuning in to see her mom in a role she referred to on Instagram as a “fever dream” because she had such fun doing it. A role that was, in fact, also inspired by drag queens. “There’s a drag queen that lives in me. I’m always right on the verge of going full-time with her,” McCarthy told Entertainment Weekly last month, adding that drag “100 percent” influenced her portrayal of Ursula. “To keep the humor and the sadness and the edginess to Ursula is everything I want in a character — and frankly, everything I want in a drag queen.”
It isn’t just Ursula’s drag queen vibes that has McCarthy wanting to share her new role in The Little Mermaid. It’s also a relatable story for parents and teens.
McCarthy, notably the mom of two teenagers herself, told Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet that The Little Mermaid still resonates with kids and parents for an important reason. “I think that for me there’s something special about this one. If we haven’t been a parent, we’ve all had parents. We’ve all wrestled with what that is. We’ve all longed to figure out what’s the life I want, which is really the key story that in this, I feel like it’s more modern than it was in the original, just in terms of really carving out the life you choose to have for yourself,” she told the outlet. “And I just think that’s so relevant and necessary for today, that I think it’s gonna bring people a lot of joy.”
She makes a good case for watching The Little Mermaid with your teenager. Now you just have to wait until May 26 to watch it in theaters.
