The Help's Jessica Chastain: I Was "Bullied for Being a Redhead"

USMagazine, Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 2:51pm (PDT)

Hollywood can't seem to get enough of Jessica Chastain, who added seven film credits to her resume in 2011 alone. But according to the 30-year-old actress, she wasn't always readily embraced by her peers.

PHOTOS: Hollywood's red hot redheads

"I got teased a lot when I was a little kid. Bullied for being a redhead. When you become an adult, that stops. But then when you become a known actor, it comes back," she tells the December issue of ASOS. "People write mean things on message boards. People feel that they can say mean, mean things. It's really shocking and strange."

NEWS: 5 Things You Don't Know About Jessica Chastain

Though she's grateful to be recognized for her work in films such as The Help and The Tree of Life, Chastain says she didn't become an actress "for the fame or money."

"A lot of my childhood [outside San Francisco], we were very, very poor.  I've experienced that. It's tough, but I can get through it," she says. "I could be very happy working Off-Broadway in theatre for the rest of my life as long as I was acting -- that's what makes me happy."

PHOTOS: Fall 2011 movie preview

Chastain next appears in The Wettest County in the World, which also stars Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Mia Wasikowska, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman.

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly