Jenny McCarthy is on the defense after rumors of a feud with cousin Melissa McCarthy surfaced in the wake her The View hosting announcement. Radar Online reported that Jenny discouraged her cousin to audition in Hollywood because of her weight.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," the former Playboy model tells People. "I was fortunate enough to get her a job on a show I was doing, to learn the ropes and get some experience on a TV set."

Melissa McCarthy, the breakout star of sleeper hit Bridesmaids, has received public criticism for her weight, to which Jenny has always responded in full defense. Rex Reed from The New York Observer, in his review of Melissa's number one hit The Identity Thief, called her "a hippo" and "tractor-sized."

The View host says the former Gilmore Girls actress "has accomplished everything she has accomplished through hard work and her extraordinary talent." Jenny claims she has nothing but encouragement and support for her cousin Melissa.

But why has Jenny not invited Melissa to her upcoming wedding with actor Donnie Wahlberg? She says it's "ridiculous" for people to assume she "banned" her cousin from attending. "Donnie and I are planning a very intimate ceremony that will involve a very small group of closest friends and that's it," Jenny adds.

Last year Melissa talked to Us Magazine about being a smaller size 6 to 8 in her twenties and still being dissatisfied with the way she looked. She claimed being unable to "appreciate anything" and even called herself a "shallow narcissist."

Today, she has come to accept her size, saying that being a mother to two daughters Vivian and Georgette, shifted her priorities. She no longer feels the need to obsess over her weight and ask herself "Why weren't I a size 2 or 4?"