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It would take several pages to list all of Charlize Theron's amazing roles. She has been working since she was very young and has always been talented, but if one had to pinpoint her big break, it would be her part as the leading lady in The Devil's Advocate in the late '90s. She's since, as we all know, appeared in major franchises such as Mad Max and Fast & Furious.
But this article will not be focusing on her incredible career and the many iconic credits to her name. No, this is about what came before fame. About her childhood in South Africa and how far she's come.
Charlize Theron Had A Difficult Childhood In South Africa
Charlize Theron's life right now might seem like a dream come true. She has an incredibly successful career, is one of the best-paid actresses in Hollywood, and is a great mother.
It wasn't always so easy for her, though. She was already famous when she made the decision to share all the hardships she went through as a child in South Africa.
"It's not just about me," she explained. "If it was just about me, I think I could talk about it." The fact is that her story is also her mother's story, and she "has never asked to be in the spotlight, and she's never asked for any of this."
Still, after getting her blessing, Charlize opened up about what they suffered.
"My dad was a big guy, tall, skinny legs, big belly," she started. "[He] could be very serious but loved to laugh as well, and enjoyed life. He also had a disease. He was an alcoholic."
Charlize also said that while he wasn't physically abusive, her parents' marriage was toxic and her father "was a verbal abuser."
Things came to a head on the night of June 21, 1991. Charlize and her mom received a call from her aunt warning them that her father had been drinking and seemed dangerous. Shortly after, he showed up at the house and attacked both of them with a gun.
Charlize's mom defended herself and ended up killing the father. Because it was self-defense she never faced prosecution, and the actress has never blamed her once.
"I know what happened. And I know that if my daughter was in the same situation, I would do the same thing." That doesn't mean it didn't affect her, obviously.
"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. You always think it happens to somebody else." Still, she has learned to live and be happy. "It's a part of me, but it doesn't rule my life," she stated.
Why Doesn't Charlize Theron Have A South African Accent?
After such a traumatic event, Charlize and her mom uprooted their lives and tried to move on, make it somewhere else. They lived in Milan for a while, where a teenaged Charlize had a brief stint as a model, but in 1994, her mom bought her a plane ticket to the US to give her a chance to accomplish her dream to make it as an actress.
By that point, Charlize already spoke English, even though her first language was Afrikaans.
But she didn't learn it from an academy or a tutor, she learned on her own by watching American shows, which is why she didn't have a South African accent when she arrived in the US, and living there for so long only solidified her American accent.
Lots of people don't actually know she's South African, even though she doesn't deny her origins. She just learned the American accent as part of the language, and it became part of how she speaks.
Does Charlize Theron Really Speak Afrikaans?
Not long ago, Charlize Theron made an unfortunate joke about her mother tongue on the podcast SmartLess, saying that "about 44 people" speak Afrikaans and that knowing it was "not very helpful."
This, of course, resulted in mountains of criticism and backlash from people all over the world who rightfully were very offended by that statement. But the truth is that Charlize meant it as a joke (a very bad, distasteful joke), probably stemming from her insecurity around her identity as a South African-American.
"I love my country. And it’s very hard for South Africans to believe that, because I left and speak in an American accent," she said a while back.
"I have a very, very strong connection to my country and to its people. It’s the mother that might have abandoned me, in a weird way, but not all the way. I’m not having a pity party, but I’m constantly trying to win its love back."
Obviously, her recent comments are not a step in the right direction, but hopefully, she will soon be taking the steps to make amends, if her love for her roots is as strong as she's always claimed. Given her history, it's probably right to give her the benefit of the doubt.
