Erin Moriarty refuses to be a prop in Megyn Kelly's 'appalling' plastic surgery takes (2024)

Erin Moriarty, who plays the righteous and compassionate Starlight in Prime Video’s superhero series “The Boys,” is standing her ground against critics — including Megyn Kelly.

The actor got candid on Instagram about “bullying” and “harassment” on social media, weeks after a recent selfie went viral and sparked plastic surgery speculation. Fans on Reddit guessed “buccal fat removal” and other cosmetic procedures, but Moriarty said in her lengthy Friday statement that the selfie was taken after a period of stress.

“I’m going to emerge [from] this 10 pounds thinner and the verbal abuse/accusations will be flying — usually either drug use or just a flippant ‘eat a burger’ comment,” she wrote. “You learn to become [Teflon] and move on.”

For Moriarty, moving forward from comments about her appearance proved challenging as former Fox News anchor Kelly shared her two cents. During a Jan. 17 episode of her SiriusXM podcast, Kelly sat down with Daily Wire host Michael Knowles and alleged Moriarty had surgery to get “‘Kim Kardashian’ lips,” a nose job and cheek implants.

“It’s not about an objection to plastic surgery. It’s about an obsession with turning yourself into this fake version of yourself,” Kelly continued. “Truly like a Kim Kardashian disciple with the enormous lips and the teeny tiny nose and the huge, overdone filler cheeks. ... I find it like a sign of mental illness. It’s extremely upsetting, it’s a massive turnoff to me.”

Moriarty, 29, fired back at Kelly, taking issue with how the news veteran used an inaccurately dated photo for her before-after comparison. “How utterly misinformed, inaccurate and clickbait seeking people who we follow and consider to be informed is appalling,” Moriarty wrote on Friday.

Later in her statement, Moriarty made no mention of cosmetic surgery and clarified for fans that the makeup in her selfie involved “major contouring.” She also thanked her glam team for working their magic after “one of the most challenging weeks of my life.”

Moriarty also used her Instagram post to announce her break from social media.

She wrote: “I am horrified by the reaction, the reductive assumptions, and the aforementioned video that is a primary example of such harassment. It’s broken my heart. You’ve broken my heart.”

Moriarty, who told followers that social media is never fully representative of a person, concluded her statement by returning her attention to Kelly, referencing the vile multibillion dollar corporation at the center of “The Boys.”

“Shame on you Megyn Kelly. Shame on you, Fox News (Vought incarnate) implying my photo is reflective of women being in a worse place is as false as my conviction in saying that if you resigned you would be leaving women in a better place,” Moriarty wrote. She clarified in the caption that Kelly is no longer at Fox News.

The plastic surgery speculation and criticism was not the first time Moriarty endured cyberbullying. In a since-deleted Instagram post, Moriarty shared a blog post about the “unsolicited commentary” viewers have made about her body on “The Boys.”

“I do feel silenced. I do feel dehumanized. I do feel paralyzed,” Moriarty wrote, before adding “everyone’s going through their own battle(s).”

Moriarty’s “The Boys” family voiced their support for the actor over the weekend. Showrunner Eric Kripke said haters could “f— off” and urged followers to be kind. Jack Quaid, Moriarty’s on-screen boyfriend, also dismissed the haters. Laurie Holden, who appeared in Season 3 as the Crimson Countess, condemned the “cruel & misogynistic bullying.”

“It’s astounding how people behave when they are consumed with jealousy,” Holden wrote. “It really is just a reflection of how sad and worthless they feel about themselves.”