Jessica Chastain may never have discovered her talent for acting if shed been more devoted to her schoolwork as a child.

The newly minted Oscar winner reflected on her adolescent years in an interview with The Guardian published this week. She recalled how her home life and overall disinterest in academics made the success she would later achieve seem unattainable.

I had always thought that I wasnt an intelligent person because I did badly at school, Chastain said. I was an obnoxious kid because I wasnt getting appropriate attention. I would do things like eat banana peels in the lunch rooms so kids would notice me.

Faced with what she describes as a lack of parental engagement, Chastain dropped out of high school.

I wasnt good with homework because Id watch TV soap operas all day when I got home, she told The Guardian. When I didnt graduate, no one even noticed. It wasnt even a conversation of, Uh, are we going to your graduation? Nothing.

Chastain was raised in Sacramento, California, by her mom, Jerri, and stepfather, Michael Hastey. She was long estranged from her late biological father, Michael Monasterio, who is reportedly not listed on her birth certificate. One of Chastains sisters, Juliet , died by suicide in 2003 at age 24.