Charlize Theron is best known as the sweet girl-next-door from a small town in South Africa who went to Hollywood and became an iconic actress.
However, behind her fairytale story lies a dark past punctuated with harrowing memories that included an incident when she was just 15-years-old in which her mom, Gerda, shot and killed her father, Charles, in self-defense.
The 44-year-old actress opened up about the incident in a recent interview with NPR.
"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," Charlize said.
The situation was hopeless and it left its scars but the night her mother killed her father in 1991 was particularly traumatic.
"My father was so drunk that he shouldn't have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun," Charlize said.
The Academy Award-winning actress recalled hiding inside her bedroom. Her father was trying to push through the door and she and her mother were pushing back on the other side. Her father stepped back, aimed his gun at the door and fired three times.
Charlize said it was a miracle that none of the bullets hit them but it left Gerda with no other choice but to retaliate. She grabbed a nearby gun and shot her husband in self-defense. No charges were ever filed but the damage was done.
"I think our family was an incredibly unhealthy one. And all of it, I think, scarred us in a way," Charlize said. "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."
There was some good that came of the situation though. Charlize believes that speaking out could help others who have experienced domestic violence.
"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," she said. "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."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.