Jessica Chastain isn't afraid to talk about where she came from! The beautiful actress is revealing some hardships she suffered as a girl.
Chastain spoke with the U.K's The Times about her struggle growing up, and was very candid about what she went through.
Jessica Chastain made it out of poverty
Jessica Chastain reveals that she isn't forgetting where she came from, a poor family with a single mother in Northern California. Chastain opened up and said she had 4 siblings, and a mom who tried her hardest just to put food on the table.
Being a teen mom, Chastain's mother struggled financially, and it was difficult for her to always provide for her 5 children. Chastain knew she wanted to pursue acting, and managed to strike a deal with her local performing art school
"There was no way my family could afford it," she said of the school. So, to get around it, she decided to work there in exchange for classes.
"There were people that saw I was struggling as a kid and they helped me. And that's why I ended up where I am now," she said. Chastain got her big break from the film The Help, in which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Chastain also revealed that getting help from the local Planned Parenthood, supplying a young Chastain with birth control, was a way for her to break the generational curse.
"I'm the first person in my family to not be pregnant when I was 17," she said. "It had a great impact on my life because it gave me choice."
She continued, "It makes me sick to even say this, but I never think in terms of how do I get more things in this industry. I have a rebellious streak because I grew up with a lot of resentment because we didn't have things, even food," she said.
"I don't talk about it much, but it was really, it was not what you would expect," she added.
She concluded, "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 is currently starring in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which is granting her some award buzz.
