As a young girl, she witnessed a tragic and life-altering event — her mother fatally shot her abusive father in self-defense.
Despite her difficult past, she overcame challenges and eventually made it to Hollywood, where she not only created a successful career but also received the highest honor — an Academy Award.
A heartbreaking tragedy
Hollywood is filled with stars who have fought their way up from nothing — beating the odds and proving everyone wrong. Many famous actors didn't have the luxury of privilege or connections, but through hard work, they made their way into the elite group.
Actress Charlize Theron was never just meant to be another pretty face. Hollywood had a stereotype for women like her — eye candy, quiet, and easily replaceable. But she wouldn't play that role. She had already gone through more than most people could ever imagine.
Charlize Theron is a South African-American actress and producer, recognized as one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. With an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a place on Time‘s list of the 100 most influential people in the world, she has built a career that few can compare to.
But before the fame and wealth, her life was marked by a heartbreaking tragedy.
Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975, in Benoni, South Africa, into a well-known Afrikaner family. Her family history goes back to Dutch, French, and German settlers, with her French ancestors being some of the early Huguenots in South Africa.
Her father, Charles Theron, and mother, Gerda Maritz, worked in road construction, but her family history is much deeper than that — she is even related to Danie Theron, a famous military leader from the Second Boer War.
While Theron speaks English fluently today, her first language is Afrikaans. And even though she would eventually take Hollywood by storm, her early life in South Africa was influenced by both privilege and unimaginable struggles.
Why she was bullied in school
As a kid, Charlize Theron felt like she never really belonged, especially when it came to boys.
“I wore these super nerdy glasses because I couldn't see at all, and the boys didn't like me,” she shared in a recent interview with PEOPLE in New York. “I didn't have any boyfriends, just a lot of crushes.”
There was a boy she liked who didn't notice her, and even though she wanted to be part of the popular group, she ended up doing some pretty wild things to try to fit in.
“I wasn't part of the popular crowd. There was this really popular girl at school that I was totally obsessed with. I mean, you could get in serious trouble for that kind of stuff today,” Theron laughs. “I cried one day because I couldn't sit next to her.”
Her classmates didn't make things any easier, teasing her about her glasses, messy hair, and clothes.
“I actually faced a lot of mean girl stuff from ages 7 to 12. I was pretty much a disaster in elementary school,” she admits. “But by the time I got to high school, I had gotten over it and was tougher against all that stuff.”
Her dad was a violent alcoholic.
Charlize Theron grew up on her parents' farm in Benoni, near Johannesburg — a place that should have been calm but turned into the scene of a night that changed her life forever.
On June 21, 1991, her father, who was a violent alcoholic, came home really drunk and angry. This time, it was worse than ever. Feeling something was wrong, an aunt called to warn the family that Charles was upset.
Theron, who was just 15 at the time, remembered the creepy feeling of fear that took over her.
“Nature gives you instincts. I felt like something bad was going to happen,” she said.
When her dad got home, he was really angry, shouting threats at Charlize and her mom, and his anger turned into violence. Then, he picked up a gun.
“My mom and I were in my room, pushing against the door because he was trying to break in,” Charlize told NPR and went on:
“So we were both pushing against the door from the inside, trying to keep him out. He stepped back and shot through the door three times.”
“None of the bullets hit us, which is just a miracle,” Charlize added.
As he shot at them, Charlize's mom, Gerda, had no choice. She grabbed her own gun, pulled the trigger, and shot her husband. It was a fight for survival.
The courts decided it was self-defense — Gerda didn't face any charges — but the trauma from that night would stay with Charlize forever.
“Skinny legs, big belly”
Charlize once described her dad as a tall man with “skinny legs and a big belly,” someone who could be serious but also loved to laugh and enjoy life.
However, she recognized that he had a problem with alcohol.
“My dad was a big guy, tall, skinny legs, big belly,” Theron said. “[He] could be very serious but loved to laugh and enjoy life. He also had a disease. He was an alcoholic.”
While she made it clear that he never physically hurt her, she confessed, “he was a verbal abuser.”
The event in 1991 really shook her up. It left a lasting mark on the Oscar-winner, who thought,
“This family violence, this kind of violence that happens within families, is something I share with many people.”
“I'm not ashamed to talk about it because I believe that the more we discuss these issues, the more we understand we are not alone in any of it,” she continued. “For me, this story is about growing up with addicts and how that affects a person.”
Instead of breaking her, the trauma became the fire that fueled her unstoppable rise.
”I survived that, and I'm proud of that. I've worked hard for that, too,” Theron told The New York Times. ”And I am not scared of that. I am not fearful of the darkness. If anything, I am intrigued by it, because I think it explains human nature and people better.”
How Hollywood discovered her
According to Theron, the real challenge started after the filming. “That was my whole childhood. My trauma was all of that,” she confessed, sharing that the aftermath was even more disturbing than the event itself.
At 19, Charlize Theron came to Los Angeles with just a suitcase and a strong desire to succeed. She had no connections, no help — only her natural talent and a fierce will to make it. One day, while she was arguing with a bank teller about a bounced check, a talent agent overheard her. That lucky moment opened the door to Hollywood, but Charlize realized she had to work hard for every chance.
Her big break happened with The Devil's Advocate (1997), where she held her own next to Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. Hollywood began to notice her. But it wasn't until 2003 that she really surprised everyone. For Monster, she completely changed her look, gaining weight and dropping her glamorous image to play the role of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Her intense performance won her an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Charlize had shown her talent, but she wasn't looking to play it safe.
Has played several killers
She kept pushing limits, taking on roles in action movies, dramas, and comedies. She became one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, producing films and fighting for better roles for women.
And in 2015, at 40 — an age when Hollywood usually sidelines actresses — Charlize reinvented herself again. As Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, she stole the spotlight, solidifying her legacy not just as an actress, but as a true warrior in Hollywood.
Theron has played several killers during her career, and it might be surprising, considering her background, that she decided to take on the role of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster.
Aileen was a former prostitute who was executed in Florida in 2002 for killing six men (she was never tried for a seventh murder) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Aileen Wuornos became
Film critic Roger Ebert hailed Charlize Theron's portrayal as “one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema.”
“People like Aileen Wuornos are often just labeled and pushed aside, with no one wanting to truly understand them,” Theron shared with The New York Times. “No one asks, ‘Why did this happen?' I'm intrigued by the ‘why.' Because in many ways, I'm here today because of that very question.”
