Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has been forced to resort to toilet humour in a new social media video.

The Hunger Games actress opened debate on a variety of tough subjects in the past, including the gender pay gap and body image, but her most recent was far more trivial.

In a video posted to Facebook, Lawrence defended an unhygienic joke she had made in a recent appearance on MTV in October.

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“[One of] my gross ones, is probably … I don’t wash my hands after I go to the bathroom,” she said, in response to a question from MTV’s Josh Horowitz about the bad habits of the Hunger Games lead actors.

“And then she likes to come back and literally puts her hands all over your face or in your mouth,” co-star Liam Hemsworth said.

“That was f****d up, sorry,” Lawrence later added.

But, the sheer number of people who took her comment seriously forced Lawrence to clear her name – and her hands – of the bad taste tale.

In the video Lawrence, dressed in a bathrobe and looking suitably confused, was seen walking from the toilet to the sink to wash her hands.

But after an off-camera voice informed her she had used a bidet – not a toilet – she walked from the room.

“It’s not a toilet?” she said.

“Oh, well then I don’t have to wash my hands.”

Lawrence, who is currently on a press tour for the latest instalment in the blockbuster fantasy series, posted the video to avoid further questions about her toilet hygiene.

“I told MTV I didn’t wash my hands after going to the bathroom because I was trying to gross out Josh and Liam and I ended up grossing out the world,” she said.

“Of course I wash my hands after going to the bathroom! (I can’t believe I’ve put myself in a situation where I even have to say that.

“Anyway with all the rumours I’ve ever heard about myself this is the one I really had to put to rest.”

See a video of the original MTV interview below