Amy Schumer opens up about her body image to Oprah Winfrey

Comedy star Amy Schumer says her supportive parents helped instill in her a sense that beauty standards are subjective and not to demean herself for not adhering to them.

"My parents drilled into my head that I was special, and I bought it," the Rockville Centre-raised Schumer, 37, tells Oprah Winfrey in the October issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. "By the time I realized I didn't look like the women in magazines, it was too late."

Schumer, ranked the No. 5 highest-earning comedian on Forbes magazine's 2017 list, the most recent, goes on to discuss her father, who has had multiple sclerosis since the comedian was 12 years old. "My dad has MS. He's in a wheelchair," she says. "Who am I to be upset that I don't look the way society has conditioned us to feel is right?"

She acknowledged that "bullying happens, but I had the groundwork to be like, no, my mom said I'm gorgeous. Of course, entering show business, I've struggled at times. But I feel great in my body. I've had to walk other people through my body, to hold their hand and say . . . "

"It's OK to have a body like this one," Winfrey, 64, interjected. She then asked how Schumer felt about those who disagreed.

"They used to hurt my feelings," Schumer replied. "But I couldn't feel a mean internet comment now if I wanted to." In response to Winfrey saying Schumer has "changed the way so many women perceive themselves," the comic answered, "I never set out to change anyone's life; I just wanted to make people laugh. But at some point I realized people were paying attention, and I had an opportunity to be a voice for women."

Schumer, who won an Emmy Award as an executive producer of her 2013-16 Comedy Central sketch series, "Inside Amy Schumer," most recently starred in and co-wrote the film "I Feel Pretty" and hosted "Saturday Night Live" this spring. She wed chef and cookbook author Chris Fischer on Feb. 13 in California with guests in attendance including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, writer-producers Judd Apatow and Larry David, and actors Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal and David Spade.