Advertisement

'A lot of people thought I was making some political statement...': Jessica Chastain explains Oscars COVID mask

Jessica Chastain wore a mask at times during the ceremony credit:Bang Showbiz
Jessica Chastain wore a mask at times during the ceremony credit:Bang Showbiz

Jessica Chastain doesn't regret wearing a COVID-19 mask at the Oscars.

The 46-year-old actress was spotted wearing a face mask by TV viewers during the awards ceremony in March, but Jessica has now denied that she was trying to make a political statement.

Jessica - who began starring in 'A Doll's House' on Broadway in February - told The Hollywood Reporter: "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 - and I was meeting people at the stage door who flew in from Shanghai and flew in from all over the world. To be out of the show for a week? It just felt like it was so irresponsible.

"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."

Jessica was terrified of catching COVID - but so far, she's managed to avoid the illness.

She said: "I’ll tell you, the best thing is someone at the stage door gave me a mask that said, 'I’m On Broadway.' But yeah, the SAG Awards, the Oscars, a lot of people were like, 'What are you doing?!' I just couldn’t get sick. And I didn’t. I haven’t missed a show."

Earlier this year, Jessica celebrated attending the Golden Globes and managing to emerge from the show without getting COVID.

The Hollywood star took to Twitter after a fan pointed out that the mask-wearing actress didn't get the virus - unlike some of the other celebrity guests at the Globes.

In response to the fan tweet, Jessica wrote: "[kiss emoji] Phew! [mask emoji] (sic)"