Jessica Chastain Opens Up About Difficult Childhood: “I Grew Up With A Lot of Resentment”

Jessica Chastain has recently opened up about her upbringing in a poverty-stricken home. Her mother, who gave birth to Chastain at 16, was in a constant struggle to feed her five children.

“I don’t talk about it much, but it was really, um, it was not what you would expect,” she shared in a recent interview. “When people see me, I think they expect a different background than I have.”

Now, as a successful actress who married into an Italian noble family, she doesn’t want anyone to struggle as she did.

“I grew up with a lot of resentment because we didn’t have things, like even food,” she continued. “So because I come from that place, I know what it’s like, and it makes me angry. And I don’t [want] anyone else to be denied anything. In terms of a voice, being seen, being acknowledged and valued.”

Chastain has notably fought for her and her female co-stars to all earn equal pay in her latest film The 355, taking inspiration from those who helped her when she was struggling to have a voice.

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