Jessica Chastain earned her first Oscar for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” and she used her acceptance speech to raise awareness about suicide, particularly among LGBTQ+ people.
Jessica Chastain is putting her celebrity to good use.
On March 27, when accepting the Best Actress award at the 2022 Oscars, the star of “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” raised awareness about suicide and the necessity of sharing hope.
For the Best Actress in a Leading Role award, Chastain competed against Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”), Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penelope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”), and Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”), among others.
Chastain spoke about the “difficult times” people are experiencing, saying that they are “filled with a lot of trauma and isolation, and so many people out there feel hopelessness and they feel alone.”
She then spoke about the importance of suicide awareness, saying, “It’s touched many families, it’s touched mine, especially members of the LGBTQ community, who often feel out of place with their peers. We’re faced with discriminatory and bigoted legislation sweeping our country with the only goal of further dividing us. There are violence and hate crimes being perpetrated on innocent civilians all over the world.”
Chastain went on to say that she’s inspired by “radical acts of love,” similar to Tammy Faye’s.
The 45-year-old actress believes compassion “connects us all in the desire that we want to be accepted for who we are, for who we love, and to live a life without the fear of violence or terror.” She added, “For any of you out there who do in fact feel hopeless or alone, I just want you to know that you’re unconditionally loved for the uniqueness that is you.”
As per E!, Chastain has previously opened up about her sister, Juliet Chastain, who died by suicide in 2003 when she was 24 years old.
“And she had a lot of attempted suicides, but you never really think this is going to happen, even though, in your mind, you know it can happen,” she told Modern Luxury Manhattan in 2016, per People. “And when you get the call, it’s … shocking.”
The 2022 Oscars event featured several A-list presenters, including Zoe Kravitz and Lady Gaga, and was hosted by comedians Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer, and Regina Hall.
Chastain previously received Oscar nominations for “Zero Dark Thirty” in 2013 and “The Help” in 2012. She finally has her first award a decade later.