Jessica Chastain's Estranged Father Dies, Actress Doesn't Attend Memorial: Report

USMagazine, Sunday, February 24, 2013, 11:30am (PST)

Jessica Chastain could very well win an Academy Award for Best Actress at the Oscars in Los Angeles this Sunday. One day earlier and nearly 400 miles away in Sacramento, however, the Zero Dark Thirty actress' late biological father, Michael Monasterio, was remembered at a memorial service -- and Chastain did not attend.

"He is not on Jessica's birth certificate. There are no photos of Jessica and Michael together. Given all of the facts, there are no plans to attend ," a source close to Chastain, 35, explained to the Daily News before the service.

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Monasterio died unexpectedly on Feb. 5 of bronchitis, the paper reports. A rock musician, Monasterio was just 20 when the future Oscar nominee was born in 1977; the young couple (Chastain's mother, vegan chef Jerri Chastain, was just 16 when she gave birth) welcomed a second daughter, Juliet, one year later.

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Chastain has never discussed her relationship with Michael in the press, and reportedly considers her stepfather, fireman Michael Hastey, to be her true father.

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"He never paid child support," a Chastain source told the Daily News. of their lifelong estrangement. "He chose not to have contact with Jessica and her family."

Tracy Monasterio, married to Micheal's brother, also told the News that the family never reached out to the Mama star for financial support following her Hollywood success. “We don't need Jessica; we don't need her money. . . no one has asked her for money. No one expects her to give money," she said.

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Jessica Chastain's Estranged Father Dies, Actress Doesn't Attend Memorial: Report