Charlize Theron, the action film queen celebrating her 49th birthday today (August 7) is a familiar face to movie enthusiasts.
She’s graced the silver screen in Hollywood hits like The Italian Job, Hancock, Prometheus, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Fate of the Furious, Atomic Blonde and The Old Guard.
Not only has she dominated the action genre, but she’s also clinched best actress Academy Awards for her dramatic performances in Monster, North Country and Bombshell.
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Not to mention her becoming part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Clea. She even made an unexpected cameo in Season 3 of the superhero TV series The Boys, playing an actress portraying Stormfront.
She’s no stranger to playing strong parts, and off-screen Theron is just as tough as her on-screen characters.
(Image: Warner Brothers)
She’s had her fair share of disputes with fellow actors including a heated exchange with “aggressive” Mad Max: Fury Road co-star Tom Hardy, and calling out Steven Seagal for being “not very nice to women”.
However, before her rise to silver screen stardom, Theron had a dark past back home in South Africa. Born and raised in Benoni, near Johannesburg, in 1975, Theron spent her childhood on a farm.
(Image: Getty Images for The Charlize Th)
She has spoken about her father’s alcoholism and verbal abuse, as well as his tumultuous marriage to her mother. A chilling incident occurred when she was just 15 years old in June 1991, her drunken father came home and threatened to kill both her and her mother.
In a horrifying account, Oscar-winner Charlize Theron has recounted the night her mother killed her father in self-defence. The star revealed how her dad, in a drunken rage, blasted away at her mom and then aimed his gun towards Theron’s bedroom.
(Image: Photographer: Jasin Boland)
Heroically, her mum grabbed her own firearm and shot him dead. ABC News reports the attorney general confirmed Theron’s mother was never charged as she had acted to protect herself and her daughter.
She told Diane Sawyer in an exclusive: “I know what happened. And I know that if my daughter was in the same situation, I would do the same thing.
“I think, for me, it took a long time to sink in, what had really happened because you just don’t think stuff like that will ever happen to you.”
(Image: Getty Images for The Charlize Th)
Theron also shared: “It’s a part of me, but it doesn’t rule my life.”
The ‘Bombshell’ actress also opened up about her challenging health battles, revealing how jaundice struck her as a youngster. She shared how she had to be on a heap of antibiotics which led to her baby teeth rotting and being yanked out.
This meant Theron wasn’t flashing any pearly whites until the grand old age of 11.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
