South African-born actress Charlize Theron has opened up about her father’s death. She talked about the night her mom killed her father in self-defense and why she’s ‘not ashamed’ to talk about it in public.
The Oscar-winning actress was just 15 years old when her dad Charles Theron stormed into the family’s home near Johannesburg, South Africa and fired several times through a bedroom door with the actress and her mother on the other side.
“My father was so drunk that he shouldn’t have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun,” she told NPR.
She shared that both she and her mother were in her bedroom when her father tried to push his way through the door.
“He took a step back and just shot through the door three times. None of those bullets ever hit us, which is just a miracle.”
During all the frightening drama, her mother Gerda Theron, grabbed her own handgun, opened fire in retaliation, and killed him.
‘But in self-defense, she ended the threat,’ the “Monster” star added.
The aftermath
After an investigation, the 1991 shooting was legally adjudged to have been self-defense. Therefore, according to Charlize Theron, her mother did not face any charges for her father’s death.
Theron’s father had a long history of unpredictable alcoholism, she revealed. “My father was a very sick man. My father was a drunk all my life. I only knew him one way, and that was as an alcoholic,” she explained.
Theron, 44, made a point of asserting that she bears no shame of talking about the tragic event in public. “This family violence, this kind of violence that happens within the family; it is something that I share with a lot of people,” she said.
“The more we talk about these things, the more we realize we are not alone in any of it. For me, it’s just always been that this story really is about growing up with addicts and what that does to a person.”
Theron also confessed that she perceived her family dynamic as a youngster as a ‘hopeless situation.’
“I think our family was an incredibly unhealthy one. And all of it, I think, scarred us in a way. 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.”
In the past, the “Bombshell” actress has credited her mother with helping shape her into a strong and brave woman.