Jessica Chastain has responded to backlash she's received for continuing to wear face masks to award shows.
The Academy Award winning actress made headlines for continuing to mask up as the Covid-19 pandemic began to ease earlier this year.
Chastain has had starring rolls in films such as The Help (2011), Interstellar (2014), Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021), for which she bagged the Oscar. She is also a prolific theater actress.
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While she occasionally removes her face coverings for red carpet moments, the 46-year-old remains largely diligent and often matches her masks with her beautiful gowns.
Recently, she explained why she continues to wear a mask while the majority have chosen to stop — and no, it isn't a political statement.
“We were testing every day on our show, and even if you had no symptoms if you tested positive for Covid, you were out for a week,” Chastain said of her time working on Broadway show, A Doll's House, during a roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter.
“And I was meeting people at the stage door who flew in from Shanghai and flew in from all over the world,” she continued. “To be out of the show for a week? It just felt like it was so irresponsible.”
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“So I was wearing the mask at the Oscars. I got quite a lot of flak for that. A lot of people thought I was making some political statement. I don’t know what they thought.”
Singer Josh Groban, who was also at the roundtable, backed the actress up. “Theater people knew. We knew,” he said.
Chastain then went on to talk about a sweet gift she'd received from a fan. “Well, OK, good. I’ll tell you, the best thing is someone at the stage door gave me a mask that said, ‘I’m On Broadway.’
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“But yeah, the SAG Awards, the Oscars, a lot of people were like, ‘What are you doing?!’” she said. “I just couldn’t get sick. And I didn’t. I haven’t missed a show.”
The actress' diligence certainly paid off earlier this year when she avoided a Covid outbreak following the 2023 Golden Globes that saw the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Pfeiffer test positive for the virus.
Following the event, a fan posted a pic of Chastain wearing a bedazzled dress and matching mask to the event to X captioned, “And you know who didn’t get COVID at the Golden Globes?”
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“Phew!” Chastain cheekily responded.
Bec Oakes