Jessica Chastain says she vomited in her mouth just before kissing co-star

‘The Good Nurse’ actor says ‘no one knew’ about her sudden sickness during a performance

Jessica Chastain has recalled an unfortunate bout of nausea before an on-stage kiss.

The actor, who won her first Academy Award in 2022 for playing the eponymous televangelist in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, recently starred in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House on Broadway.

In a forthcoming episode of the SmartLess podcast, Chastain speaks about an unsavoury incident that took place during the run.

“I can say it now, ‘cause we’re closed. This is really gross, what I’m gonna tell you guys,” Chastain warned the hosts, actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.

“I threw up. I threw up and I swallowed it. And no one knew!”

Adding more context to the bizarre moment, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, the Zero Dark Thirty actor stated that the vomit took her by surprise during an emotional scene.

“I was kinda, like, sobbing and I leaned over and it happened,” she explained.

As Chastain was required to remain on stage for the whole play, she didn’t have an opportunity to brush her teeth or have a drink before the intimate moment with her colleague.

Jessica Chastain (Getty Images)

“I had to kiss someone! Yes! It was a nightmare and I couldn’t explain,” Chastain said.

Though she described the kiss as usually more of a “sensual” sort of kiss, Chastain said it was “definitely a closed-mouth kiss” on that particular night.

Chastain came clean to her co-star and the production team about the accident as soon as the performance ended. She added: “The second we had the curtain call and the curtain came down, I said, ‘You guys, I’m so sorry, I vomited.’”

In the play, adapted for the stage by Amy Herzog, Chastain stars opposite Okieriete Onaodowan and Succession actor Arian Moayed.

Elsewhere, Chastain recently shared some insight into her relationship with her Scenes from a Marriage co-star, Oscar Isaac.

The actors played a married couple in the 2021 HBO Max (now Max) miniseries. Across the five episodes, the couple go through complex stages of their connection, from desire to hatred and divorce.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Chastain said that the intensity of the role has altered her real-life friendship with Isaac.

“I love Oscar, but the reality is, our friendship has never quite been the same,” she said. “We’re going to be OK, but after that, I was like, ‘I need a little bit of a breather.’”

Jessica Chastain’s episode of SmartLess will be available to listen to on Monday 14 August.