Charlize Theron Discusses the Night Her Mom Killed Her Dad in Self-Defence

On and off camera, Charlize Theron the Oscar-winning actress remains a strong woman. Her latest movie, Bombshell which tells a poignant story of indecent harassment at Fox News is already making waves. The 44-year-old South African icon portrays fearless characters and for taking on boundary-defining roles, but recalls not always born that way. In an extremely candid interview, Theron discusses growing up in an unhealthy family environment.

An extreme incident at home led to her father being killed by her mother in self-defense, something she has revealed earlier. Her father was an alcoholic and a very sick man. Throughout her life, he remained an incurable alcoholic in a pretty hopeless situation at home and their family was just stuck in it. The day-to-day unpredictable situation of living with an addict remains embedded in your body for the rest of your life, more than just this one traumatic event of one night’s incident.

Mentally Strong Despite Childhood Trauma

Her family life was an incredibly unhealthy one and scarred all of them for life. She wishes that what happened that night had never happened. But unfortunately it did happen when no attempt was ever made to get to the root of these issues. As for the incident, her father came home after a long night of drinking and her father was so under the influence of alcohol that he should not have been able to stand straight or walk when he entered the house with a gun. Her mom and she were in her bedroom, as he tried to push his entry through the door and both of them pushed back against the door from the inside to prevent access. He stepped back and thrice shot through the door.

On Family Violence

It was a miracle that none of the bullets hit them and in self-defence, her mother ended the threat. Charlize has no problem recounting her story if it helps others. This pattern of family violence is shared with many people as she is unashamed to talk about it as the more we expose these things, the more we realize that we are not alone in the trauma. This story tells all about growing up with and around addicts and how it can affect all members in the family. Now, as a mom of two little adopted kids, the movie star feels truly blessed to have her children in her life. But, as a single mom, she wants to live in a world with less stigma about it.

The Concept of Family

Everything during the adoption process, happened because these two babies were meant to be in her life. They are her children and defines her concept of what constitutes a ‘strong’ or ‘right’ family or and what a family looks like or should look like. In most places and for a lot of people in America, it is very traditional for every child to have a mother and a father. We’ve wrapped slowly around the idea of two mothers and two fathers, but not the idea of a single parent which is just so unfortunate. She knows many people who would possibly be incredible parents. Her fight was rendered easier because of her circumstances, but she desires that for all women who wish to share their lives by raising a young child.