Jessica Chastain used to eat banana peel so people would "notice" her.

The 46-year-old actress didn't care if people thought she was a "weirdo" because of her bizarre choice of snacks during her school days because she was just desperate for some attention.

Speaking on the 'WTF with Marc Maron' podcast, she admitted: “I remember sitting in the cafeteria and eating orange peels and banana peels because it made people notice me.

“The other kids would be like, ‘Oh my God, look at her.’ I know, it’s terrible. I just wanted people to notice me for being a weirdo, that I was existing, something.”

The 'Eyes of Tammy Faye' actress confessed to being "awkward" and "obnoxious" as a child and her terrible haircut only made her seem even more "nerdy".

She said: “I was kind of nerdy. One time they permed my hair and I looked like Annie, and then we cut it off. I had really short hair, red hair. I look back and I’m like, ‘Oh, what a sweet, clueless person.' "

But once she went to junior high, Jessica was thrilled to find like-minded friends through the school's theatre elective.

She said: “Everyone [was] as weird as I am and we can just create art and do stuff together.

"There was an immediate sense of, ‘Oh, I”m good at this.’”

Earlier this month, the Oscar-winning star admitted she had no choice but to swallow her own vomit during a performance of her Broadway show 'A Doll's House'.

She confessed on the 'SmartLess' podcast: “I threw up [on stage]. I threw up and I swallowed it. And no one knew.

“From then on I was like, ‘I’m not eating within three hours of the show. I’ll just drink water.’ I don’t know if I was nervous — I was kind of sobbing and I, like, leaned over and it happened. And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ You can’t let it out of your mouth.”

The play had no interval so Jessica "couldn't tell anyone" she had been sick - not even her co-star who she had a kissing scene with.

She exclaimed: “I had to kiss someone! It was a nightmare and I couldn’t explain.

“And then the second we had the curtain call and the curtain came down, I said, ‘You guys I am so sorry. I vomited.’ … Even talking to someone I was just so [embarrassed].”