Jessica Chastain on reports of Jennifer Lawrence rivalry: ‘There is a stigma that women don’t work well together’

The actress criticised reports that suggest women are unable to work together in a supportive manner

Jessica Chastain at the Critics Choice Awards 2015

If there is one thing that gossip columns are excellent at doing, it is constructing or inflating rivalries between high-profile people, especially if both parties are women.

Jessica Chastain, 38, is a woman who can attest to this. The Martian actress is currently filming The Zookeeper’s Wife, a production that has a largely female cast.

In an interview with Haute Living, she highlighted the way groups of women are often presented as aggressive towards each other instead of supportive.

“There has been a stigma out there that women don't work well together,” she said. “I've never seen women like this. I remember growing up hearing this myth, that women fight when they're together and it's completely inaccurate. I've never seen it.”

This portrayal of female working relationships was something she found herself of the receiving end of after being nominated for Best Actress alongside Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Oscars. She told the magazine: ”I know also during Oscar season [2013] media, because they were trying to get headlines and get clicks, were trying to fabricate a fake rivalry between Jennifer Lawrence and myself and I immediately came out and said this is a media myth that has to stop.”

Chastain issued a statement at the time condemning spurious reports by gossip sites that she was “furious” about a Saturday Night Live sketch where Lawrence had joked about a rivalry between the pair.

In it, she urged women not to allow tabloids to perpetuate myths that women do not support each other. "Filming The Help was the most amazing experience and yet that is the film I'm most asked about in regards to 'fighting on set'. Why do we support the myth that women are competitive and cannot get along?"

“Please don't allow the media to perpetuate the myth that women aren't supportive of each other. Every time an actress is celebrated for her great work, I cheer. For the more brilliant their performance, the more the audience demands stories about women. With support and encouragement, we help to inspire this industry to create opportunities for women. And as we all know: a great year for women in film, is just a great year for film.”

In February, Chastain joined with Juliette Binoche, Queen Latifah and other female actors and directors to launch We Do It Together, an organisation which aims to empower women by tackling discrimination within the film industry.