Who was Charlize Theron’s father and what happened to him? All about parents as actress gets candid about difficult childhood

Charlize Theron recently opened up about her family, particularly her father, Charles Theron, who died when he was shot by her mother in self-defense. In her appearance on the Call Me Daddy podcast hosted by Alex Cooper, the Oscar-winning actress also emphasized that realizing that she might not be ready for a long-term relationship and adopting her two daughters was the best decision she had ever made.

She said:

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"Those two things I had to acknowledge when I decided to be a parent, and I think it's probably one of the healthiest decisions I ever made."

Charlize Theron was recently seen in the Netflix movie, Old Guard 2, which was released on the platform on 2 July. During her conversation on the podcast, the Bombshell actress also talked about her upbringing and added that the incident has allowed her to have perspective in raising her own two children as a single mother.

More about Charlize Theron's parents as the actress recalls her difficult childhood

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, South Africa, on 7 August 1975, to parents Gerda Maritz and Charlie Theron. According to Distractify, her parents had an extremely difficult relationship, which was compounded by her father's struggles with alcohol addiction.

In her 2019 appearance on the NPR podcast hosted by Terry Gross, Charlize Theron detailed the circumstances she grew up in, describing it as an atmosphere of "unpredictability" due to her father's behavior.

She said:

"My father was a very sick man. My father was an alcoholic all my life. I only knew him one way, and that was as an alcoholic. ... It was a pretty hopeless situation. Our family was just kind of stuck in it. And the day-to-day unpredictability of living with an addict is the thing that you sit with and have kind of embedded in your body for the rest of your life, more than just this one event of what happened one night. I think our family was an incredibly unhealthy one. And all of it, I think, scarred us in a way. Of course, I wish what happened that night would have never happened. It's unfortunately what happens when you don't get to the root of these issues."

In her appearance on the Call Me Daddy podcast on 2 July, Charlize Theron spoke about how her father's mood dictated the energy in the house, something that continued for years until the fatal night. She said:

"Whatever they're feeling that day or wherever they are, that's what is going to be the vibe and the energy of the house. And that inconsistency I think was what affected me way more than just that one night."

During her conversation with Terry Gross, she further explained how the terrifying night unfolded in June 1991, when she was just fifteen years old. According to Charlize Theron, her father, Charles Theron, who was the owner of a construction company, barged into their home with a gun and then attempted to push through the room where Charlize and her mother were. He then fired shots through the door, but miraculously, the mother and daughter duo survived. Gerda later shot him, but was not charged as it was deemed an act of self-defense.

"My father was so drunk that he shouldn't have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun. My mom and I were in my bedroom leaning against the door, because he was trying to push through the door. So both of us were leaning against the door from the inside to have him not be able to push through. He took a step back and just shot through the door three times. None of those bullets ever hit us, which is just a miracle. But in self-defense, she ended the threat."

Charlize Theron, in a 2018 interview with Extra, thanked her mother for helping her become the person she is today.

She said:

"I am lucky enough that I had a great mom who really kind of made me brave and always told me to be brave. I don't know who I might have been without that."

Charlize Theron further added in her interview with NPR that she would never shy away from telling the real story of the domestic violence she and her mother went through, as she knows there are other victims out there who are in the same situation. She said:

"This family violence, this kind of violence that happens within the family, is something that I share with a lot of people. I'm not ashamed to talk about it, because I do think that the more we talk about these things, the more we realize we are not alone in any of it. I think, for me, it's just always been that this story really is about growing up with addicts and what that does to a person."

According to People Magazine, Charlize Theron, during her conversation with Alex Cooper, further added that she is not looking to get married anytime soon and stated that she has now discovered herself in ways she never knew when she was much younger.

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