Charlize Theron’s life may be nice right now, but it wasn’t always like that. The Oscar-winning actress recently talked openly about the horrible experience that altered her life during an interview with NPR.
The South African-born celebrity revealed specifics regarding the evening her mother, Gerda, fatally murdered her father, Charles.
When Charlize was 15 years old in June 1991, her alcoholic father came home from work very drunk and armed with a gun.
“My father should not have been able to enter the house with a pistol since he was so inebriated, Charlize told NPR. She claimed that in order to prevent being shot, she and her mother barricaded themselves in her bedroom.
“He was trying to push through the door, so my mother and I were in my bedroom leaning against it. As a result, we were both leaning against the door from the inside to prevent him from entering. He stepped back and simply fired three times through the door.
The 44-year-old actress can only refer to the fact that none of the bullets missed Charlize or Gerda as a “miracle.”
Gerda intervened to defend her daughter as the threat increased. She was able to take Charles’ gun from him and start shooting. The bullet was lethal.
But she halted the threat out of self-defense, Charlize added. Gerda was never put on trial.
Additionally, Charlize talked about what it was like to coexist with an addict.
She claimed, “I only knew Charles in one way, and that was as an alcoholic. “The situation was quite dismal. Our family was essentially trapped in it. More so than just this one incident of what happened one night, the unpredictable nature of living with an addict is something you sit with and kind of have implanted in your body for the rest of your life.”
“I believe that our family was quite unhealthy,” she continued. “And I believe it all left us with some sort of scar. Of course, I wish what occurred that evening had never occurred. Unfortunately, it is what happens when you don’t address the underlying causes of these problems.”
The “Bombshell” actress says she is no longer embarrassed to talk about her upbringing after previously avoiding the subject.
“I don’t feel embarrassed to talk about it since, in my opinion, the more we do so, the more we come to understand that we are not the only ones experiencing any of these things. I believe that this story has always been about growing up around addicts and the effects it has on a person.”
Charlize previously told that one of her mother’s views is the reason she does not regard herself as a victim.
Her guiding principle was, “This is dreadful. Recognize how awful this is. Now pick a direction. Will you be defined by this? Are you going to swim or will you sink? And that was all.”
Charlize and Gerda left South Africa soon after her father passed away. They eventually made it to America, where Charlize started her modeling and acting career.
Jackson, who is now seven, and August, who is now three, are Charlize’s daughters.
