The Tragic Life of Charlize Theron

You may not know it, but Charlize Theron has led quite a tragic life. Welcome to MsMojo and today we’re exploring the tragic life of the South African and American actor and producer. She is one of the most popular and most acclaimed actresses of our time, having been nominated for six SAG, one Emmy, six Golden Globe, three BAFTA, and two Academy awards - winning one of the latter for her work in “Monster”. But it was a long, arduous, and literally painful process to get to that point. Charlize was born in South Africa on August 7, 1975, and she was seemingly doomed from the very beginning. Charlize is known for being an absolute stunner, but the actress claims that she was quite odd looking as a child. She had jaundice at a very young age and was put on numerous antibiotics to treat the unnatural pigmentation. However, these antibiotics caused her baby teeth to literally rot out of her mouth, and she didn’t grow teeth until she was eleven years old. She told The Sun, “That was tough, you know, being in school having photos taken while I was pretending I had teeth. It was hideous”. She also had trouble fitting in at Putfontein Primary School, and Charlize quickly found herself a bit of an outsider. But loneliness and a lack of teeth were the least of young Charlize’s problems. Her father, Charles Theron, was an abusive alcoholic, and Charlize lived in constant fear of him. Charlize told Howard Stern that she was deeply affected “living in the house with an alcoholic and waking up not knowing what was going to happen. And not knowing how my day was going to go and all of it dependent on somebody else and whether he was not going to drink or drink.” She also claims to have been “embarrassed” about having an unpredictable, alcoholic father. His wild and unpredictable nature affected Charlize so deeply and indelibly that she sought therapy in her late 20s in an attempt to heal old wounds and find inner peace. Charles’s volatility exploded on the fateful night of June 21, 1991. Charles had been out drinking with his brother, and when he returned, he began firing his gun into various objects on the property. Charlize and her mother, Gerda, hid in Charlize’s bedroom. When the drunken Charles made his way inside the house, Charlize and Gerda stood against the door to prevent Charles from getting in. He attempted to force his way inside, and when that didn’t work, he stood back and fired three rounds into the door. None of the bullets made contact, and Gerda made the decision to protect her daughter – she turned, fired back, and killed her husband. We can’t even imagine having to make that kind of decision, and Charlize remains proud of her mother. She also claims that, “If my daughter was in the same situation, I would do the same thing”. Gerda was cleared of all charges, as court officials decided that she acted in self-defense. Charlize’s life suddenly opened up without Charles’s overbearing presence, and she and her mother moved to Milan, Italy to pursue a fortuitous modeling contract. But Charlize saw modeling as a stepping stone to bigger things, and that “thing” was dancing. Charlize had been dancing since she was four years old, and she told The New York Times, “Even though I was modeling, I always thought of myself as a dancer.” She subsequently moved to New York to attend the Joffrey Ballet School, a prestigious dance company now based in Chicago. Unfortunately, Charlize suffered a debilitating knee injury and was prevented from dancing in a professional capacity. As her lifelong dream came to a surprising and very permanent end, Charlize found herself entering a major bout of depression. However, Gerda wasn’t having any of it, and she essentially told Charlize to come home and sulk or suck it up and carry on. Gerda encouraged Charlize to pursue her other passion – movies. She bought her daughter a one-way plane ticket to Hollywood, and Charlize found instant acclaim and success as an actress! Nah, just kidding, she was dirt broke and basically had to re-learn the English language. Charlize took acting lessons once she arrived in Hollywood, but she was constantly told that her South African accent was a major problem and a huge roadblock in obtaining movie roles. She told The New York Times, “I had to fundamentally relearn English as an American”. While re-learning the English language, Charlize was being supported by her mother and living in poverty. In one particular instance, Charlize entered into a vicious shouting match with a bank teller after they refused to cash her mother’s cheque. In Charlize’s own words, “It was my survival skills kicking in. I had to stand up and say ‘If I leave this bank without this check cashed, I’m not going to have a place to sleep tonight’”. Luckily, this little obstacle proved highly fortuitous for the young and struggling actress. Behind her in line was a talent manager named John Crosby, and he was so enamored by Charlize’s passion and animation that he handed her his business card. He subsequently introduced her to some casting agents, and she finally landed her first speaking role in a crime film called “2 Days in the Valley”. Unfortunately, Charlize’s glamorous looks nearly killed her career. Following “2 Days in the Valley,” Charlize was constantly offered mindless “sexy woman” roles, but she turned them down out of principle. She finally realized that she could be taken seriously once Tom Hanks cast her in his 1996 musical comedy “That Thing You Do!” Like many of us, Charlize admired Tom Hanks growing up, and being offered a role by her idol served as a major confidence boost. The movie was widely acclaimed, and Charlize suddenly found herself starring in movies like “The Devil’s Advocate,” “Mighty Joe Young,” and “The Cider House Rules.” International recognition finally came in 2003, as she starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in “The Italian Job” and landed her career-defining role as Aileen Wuornos in “Monster”. But things weren’t perfect for the acclaimed and now-wildly popular actress. She revealed on Australia’s “Kyle and Jackie O” that she suffers from OCD. She suffered a herniated disc in her neck while filming “Aeon Flux” in Berlin, which forced her to wear a neck brace for a month. In the late 2000s, her mother’s motive for killing her husband was brought into question by true crime writer Chris Karsten in his book “Killer Women: Fatal South African Females.” Karsten’s insinuations not only angered Charlize, but she also felt betrayed by her aunt, Elsa Malan, who cast doubt on Gerda and defended her brother, calling him “a benign and mild-mannered man”. And she went through a horrible time while adopting her first child. She told Elle, “I struggled mentally through the adoption process. Some of the lowest points in my life were dealing with the first time I filed; it really took an emotional toll”. Despite finally finding success and adopting a child named Jackson in 2012, she was forced to become a single mother when she and Sean Penn called off their engagement in 2015. Just a few months after, she adopted a second child named August. Despite all this, it seems as if Charlize has finally found peace. Her career is still going amazingly well, as she received two back-to-back Golden Globe nominations for her work in “Tully” and “Bombshell”. She remains close with her mother and actually co-parents her adopted children with her, telling Elle, “I would feel pretty alone if I didn’t have a partner in crime in all of this.” She also loves being in her 40s, saying, “I have never loved an age more than my forties. Forty to me feels like Goldilocks”. We can certainly understand why she feels that way. Throughout her life she has faced an abusive father, witnessed her mother kill her father in self-defense, had her childhood dream crushed by a debilitating injury, faced poverty and typecasting, had to re-learn how to speak, and struggled through a painful and mentally grueling adoption process. We’re happy to report that her life now though appears “just right.”