Jessica Chastain was an 'obnoxious' kid who ate banana peels for attention: 'It made people notice me'

After moving on from vomiting in her mouth during A Doll's House to publicly lobbying Channing Tatum to let Michael Shannon strip in a Magic Mike sequel, the Jessica Chastain chaos train continues to chug along with an adorable reveal from the Oscar winner about her childhood eating habits.

"I wasn't, like, the best student. I was a bit… probably obnoxious," the 46-year-actress old said on Tuesday's episode of the WTF With Marc Maron podcast. "I was kind of nerdy. One time they permed my hair and I looked like Annie, and then we cut it off. I had really short hair, red hair. I look back and I'm like, 'Oh, what a sweet, clueless person.'"

She continued, "I remember sitting in the cafeteria and eating orange peels and banana peels because it made people notice me. The other kids would be like, 'Oh my God, look at her.' I know, it's terrible. I just wanted people to notice me for being a weirdo, that I was existing, something."

But the star's penchant for courting eyeballs paid off later in life, as she went on to score three Academy Award nominations, including for her roles in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty, and eventually winning one for her performance in the 2021 biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

In a recent Awardist interview tied to her Emmy-nominated performance in the Showtime series George & Tammy, Chastain told EW that she hopes to revisit one of her characters, aspiring mother Celia Foote, from The Help.

"You know who I think about all the time, and I just wish I could play her [again]? Celia Foote. I just want to do something, Celia and Minny, and see what happened," she said, referencing Octavia Spencer's Oscar-winning role as Celia's maid in the film, which follows a group of Black workers navigating life in 1960s Mississippi.

"You know they ended up living together and raising the baby together. They were best friends," Chastain continued. "How amazing would that film be? I loved her, and I got to be a bit silly."

Listen to Chastain discuss her childhood penchant for banana peels around the 40-minute mark in Marc Maron's podcast above.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV.

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