4 min readLos AngelesApr 19, 2026 05:53 PM IST
Charlize Theron, the star of memorable action films like The Italian Job (2003), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Atomic Blonde (2017), The Fate of the Furious (2017), and The Old Guard (2020), has a strange equation with violence. Her personal life, particularly her childhood, was scarred by violence, thanks to the turbulent marriage of her parents.
Back in 1991, when Charlize was just 15, her father was shot dead by her mother after he, while intoxicated, threatened to kill his wife and daughter at their home in South Africa, which itself was on the brink of a civil war. The actor recalled the incident happened after she stormed into her uncle’s house in order to pee urgently, much to the chagrin of her father who was busy drinking with his brother, and was furious his daughter didn’t greet anyone in the room.
“Big thing in South Africa, the kind of respect that you have to have for elders. And he was in a state where he just spiraled. Like: ‘Why didn’t you stop? Who do you think you are?,’” Charlize Theron told The New York Times in a new interview. After being pulled up by her father, Charlize told her mother to leave him once they got back home.
Charlize was scared that night as she went to bed. “My window faced the driveway, and I could tell the level of anger, frustration or unhappiness by the way he drove in. The way that he drove into that property that night, I can’t explain it to you. I just knew something bad was going to happen,” she recalled.
Her father entered the house while shooting through steel doors. Scared for their lives, Charlize and her mother held the door in order to prevent her father and his brother from entering. But her father continued to shoot through the door. “It’s insane when you think about it that way. But the messaging was very clear. I’m going to kill you tonight,” said the actor.
As her father left the room to get a shotgun from the safe, her mother shot at his brother. The bullet ricocheted across the room seven times before hitting his hand. As Charlize’s father attempted to extract the shotgun from the safe, her mother shot him dead.
Charlize Theron has been quite vocal about her violent past because she feels such stories are rather commonplace.
Story continues below this ad
“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated story. These things are prevalent in a lot of homes. Women really get a very, very unfair shake, even in this country. Nobody takes it seriously, the situation that they’re in. And I don’t think anybody took my mom seriously,” said Charlize. “I think these things should be talked about because it makes other people not feel alone. I never knew about a story like that. When this happened to us, I thought we were the only people. I’m not haunted by this stuff anymore,” she added.
Also Read — Assi vs Mardaani 3: The grammar of rage in the era of hypermasculine cinema
Charlize Theron has advocated for prevention of violence against women all her life. She was appointed as a UN Messenger of Peace by the United Nations with an aim to eliminate violence against women. In 2020, she co-launched Together for Her, a campaign to deploy funds and other resources to combat domestic violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Disclaimer: This article recounts sensitive experiences involving childhood trauma and domestic violence. These personal reflections are provided for informational and editorial context only.
