Jessica Chastain has made it her aim to foster a culture in which a woman actor need not choose between motherhood and career.
Jessica Chastain is incredibly private about her personal life and fiercely guards her family. But while speaking with Marie Claire for the cover story of the publication's digital holiday issue, Chastain shared a significant conversation she recently had with her young daughter.
The actress remembered giving her 4-year-old daughter Guiletta advice as they discussed what she wants to be when she grows up. The 45-year-old said, “And when you’re talking to kids it’s like, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?'… And she was like, ‘I want to be a mama.' And I was like, ‘That’s a great thing to be. But you know, you can be more than one thing.’”
The young girl was astonished to discover that she had more than one choice. “I said, ‘Well, look at me, honey. I’m a mama. I’m an actress. I’m a producer. I’m a business owner. I’m a friend. I’m a cook,'” Chastain recalled. “I started listing all these things. Like, I am so many things, so you can be whatever you want. You can be the president. You can be a ballerina. You can be a mama. And it was so shocking for her to hear all of this.”
Chastain shares two children with Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo. She married the 39-year-old fashion publicist in Italy in June 2017, and they welcomed Giulietta into the world via a surrogate the following year. News of the couple's second child's arrival spread in March 2020 after they were seen out walking with a little child.
Chastain had a special trailer on set for kids when she produced and acted in the spy film The 335. "For the longest time it's been like, you're either a career woman or you're home. It's like, there's no such thing," she had told Entertainment Tonight at the time. "Men have been able to do both for years. Let's just make it possible for everyone."
Chastain has made it her aim to not just actively engage in charitable endeavors but also to foster a culture in which a woman actor need not choose between motherhood and her career. "I also wanna participate in projects where everyone feels empowered and valued and important to the process, and so that goes to pay, that goes to the fact that I love bringing families on set," Chastain shared. "We had a trailer that was for children, and so how wonderful that, yes we can be successful and wonderful at our work, but we can also not have to shut down part of our life in order to do so."
References:
https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/jessica-chastain-interview-holiday-issue/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Dimitrios Kambouris
