Melissa McCarthy first met Ben Falcone more than two decades ago in comedy school.
But she says her husband still makes her giddy.
“It’s about finding someone who you just absolutely are better with. He’s nothing but supportive, and he’s super smart,” McCarthy tells PEOPLE about her actor-director husband in this week’s cover story. “He makes me gut-laugh, like crazy gut-laugh, four or five times a day. I hit the jackpot!”
McCarthy, 49, is also thankful for his strong support in their daughters’ lives.
“I just think if they ever meet somebody and that little red flag goes off, the bell is gonna sound even louder because they have Ben as their baseline,” says McCarthy, who’s mom to Vivian, 12, and Georgette, 10, with Falcone. “They’re gonna pick well, whoever they end up with, you know? I want them to have someone utterly kind who roots them on.”
Working as co-executive producers of NBC’s latest season of Little Big Shots, the couple were on the same page about making a show that spread the invaluable lesson of learning to embrace your quirks.
“We talk a lot to our kids about how being kind and good is really important. It’s hard to make that resonate in a world where the nastiest comment wins and it’s a sporting event to be mean to people,” says McCarthy, who also hosts the show. “Ben and I discussed wanting to put just really good stuff back out into the world.”
The couple also gives priority to positivity and laughter inside their family home.
“It’s not the most serious household. There’s a lot of serious stuff happening in the world, and we don’t have to have it in the house,” she says. “I always say I’m living in a constant old Calgon commercial where every single day in our house people is yelling, people coming in and out, people riding through the living room. Our youngest is constantly on some kind of wheeled thing ripping through the house, and I just kind of love it.”
Raising two daughters who are growing too fast, McCarthy and Falcone are making sure they soak up every minute as a family. They don’t even hesitate when it comes to turning down a great work opportunity.
“We’re like carnies. We make a lot of decisions that are just simply based on, ‘Can we go together?’ It’s family first,” says McCarthy. “In the blink of an eye, the girls are gonna be in college. I’m just trying to slow the clock!”
Little Big Shots airs Sundays (8 p.m. ET) on NBC.
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