Jessica Chastain didn’t expect to get a Golden Globe nomination this year.
On Monday, Chastain was nominated for best actress in a dramatic feature for her role in Molly’s Game, but in an interview with The New York Times, the 40-year-old actress revealed she was worried that there would be repercussions since she had been such an outspoken critic of Harvey Weinstein.
“To be honest, I’m mainly surprised about my nomination,” she said. “As an actor, I have a lot of fear, thinking that if I speak my mind, or something that feels like it deviates from the norm as a woman, am I going to be made to disappear in my industry?”
“When the article came out about Weinstein, I immediately started tweeting. I’ve got a good group of girlfriends on WhatsApp, and I said, ‘I’m really terrified I’m destroying my career right now. I wonder if people will still see me as an actress, and want to work with knowing I have these opinions,’ ” she continued.
However, she added that her friends helped her get over her fear and “understand that the only way to change something that’s wrong is to change it, not ignore it.”
“And rather than saying it’s an industrywide issue, it’s more than that. It’s a societywide issue. We can’t ignore farmworkers or women who have been invisible,” she continued.
RELATED VIDEO: Ashley Judd and Multiple Women Accuse Movie Mogul Harvey Weinstein of Sexual Harassment as He Announces Leave of Absence
The 40-year-old actress had previously revealed on the Graham Norton Show that a fellow actor warned her to stop tweeting as much about the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
“I was tweeting a lot at the time and actually got an email from a well-known actor that said, ‘Calm down,’” Chastain said. “I found that heartbreaking and can only think he didn’t understand the movement that was happening.”
Following reports of alleged decades of sexual harassment by Weinstein, she also tweeted out an article highlighting similar accusations lodged against X-Men producer Bryan Singer, writing “Let us not forget.”
“I’m going to speak my mind about any injustice that I see. I’m not afraid of anything in terms of that,” Chastain previously told The Daily Beast of any potential blowback from the tweet. “And I think the greatest myth that an industry can create is to make people feel like they’re easily replaceable. I’m not going to allow that into my life.”
Chastain also told the outlet she’s encouraged by the swift action that has been taken since the various allegations have come to light.
“I feel hopeful. I feel happy,” she said. “I know it’s devastating, it’s terrible, it’s heartbreaking. These stories that are coming out are just so sad. But what makes me hopeful is that people are taking responsibility for their silence, their inaction.”
RELATED VIDEO: Harvey Weinstein’s Horrific History of Bullying: ‘He Was Aggressive On All Kinds Of Levels’
Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 50 women since The New York Times and The New Yorker documented decades of alleged sexual misconduct and sexual assault involving a number of women in detailed articles in October.
In a recent statement to PEOPLE, Weinstein’s attorneys, Blair Berk and Benjamin Brafman, said: “Mr. Weinstein has never at any time committed an act of sexual assault, and it is wrong and irresponsible to conflate claims of impolitic behavior or consensual sexual contact later regretted, with an untrue claim of criminal conduct. There is a wide canyon between mere allegation and truth, and we are confident that any sober calculation of the facts will prove no legal wrongdoing occurred.
“Nonetheless, to those offended by Mr. Weinstein’s behavior, he remains deeply apologetic.”
- Comment
