She's known for playing powerful, strong female characters on screen but as it turns out, actress and star of Molly's Game Jessica Chastain, considers herself a fighter off-screen, too.
In a new interview with WSJ. Magazine, she candidly revealed details about her childhood and how, when one of her mother’s ex-boyfriends turned on her, she learned to fight back against bullies.
Raised by a single mother in what she called a financially vulnerable household, Chastain explained that things would always grow worse “whenever a man came into the household” – and that she once had to fight back after she suffered abuse at the hands of one of her mum’s boyfriends.
“There was a turning point in my life where we were living with someone I didn’t like very much, a boyfriend of my mom’s,” she recalled. “And he did something – my room was messy or whatever and he had taken my clothes, and I was telling him to give me back my stuff – and he slapped me."
"I just kicked him in the genitals, and he fell to the ground immediately'," she continued. "It was me, my sister and my brother – and I remember looking at my sister’s face, and we were both like, ‘Oh, my God, what did I just do?’ And then I ran out of the house.”
The incident did more than just teach Chastain that sometimes she needed to physically push back when she felt she had been unjustly wronged, it taught her that she was more than capable of standing up to any potential bullies in her life. It was, she said, a revelation, that would make a huge difference to her life.
“I always look back on that moment as knowing that, OK, if anything happens to me, I’m capable of fighting back."
“If you allow a bully to intimidate or victimise you, they’ll continue to do it. Bullies are actually weak; they don’t go after strong people.”
Strength is what Chastain is known for in Hollywood, too; being a potent voice leading the charge against sexism, inequality as well as being a fierce advocate for change.
She was one of the first to speak out and protest the fact that All The Money In The World Actress Michelle Williams was paid a mere $750 for re-shooting her scenes in the film with Christopher Plummer (following the allegations that surfaced concerning the film's original star, Kevin Spacey) while her co-star Mark Whalberg was paid $1.1 million.
I heard for the reshoot she got $80 a day compared to his MILLIONS. Would anyone like to clarify? I really hope that with everything coming to light, she was paid fairly. She's a brilliant actress and is wonderful in the film. https://t.co/VzGA2ucAjV
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) January 9, 2018
Wahlberg has vowed to donate every last penny of his pay cheque to the Time’s Up initiative in Williams’ name, but it's public figures like Chastain that need to be at the fore of the media; the people who influence and inspire our children, nieces and nephews to stand up, use their voice to do the right thing and beat the bullies.
