How Charlize Theron Overcame Her Dark Family Past | The Interview

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From Lulu Garcia-Navarro: I’ve never had an interview quite like this one with Charlize Theron. I came in wanting to talk about her storied acting career, which began after she moved on her own to New York to be a ballet dancer, quit because of an injury and was discovered barely out of her teens at a bank in Los Angeles. By her late 20s she had produced, starred in and won an Oscar for the film “Monster,” in which she completely transformed herself to play the serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Since then, she’s been in dark comedies like “Tully” and big-budget fantasies like “Snow White and the Huntsman,” but I was most interested in her latest turn as an action star in films like “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the “Old Guard” franchise and her newest film, “Apex,” in which, at age 50, she kicks butt again, this time while being chased through the Australian wilderness. But while we did talk about her roles past and present, our conversation almost immediately took a revealing turn. Theron has spoken publicly about the fact that her mother killed her father in self-defense when she was a teenager. But when we talked about it, and the repercussions she’s lived with ever since, memories of her childhood flooded in with a vividness that surprised us both. Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/magazine/charlize-theron-interview.html [00:01:16] Theron’s Oscar speech thanking her mom [00:03:55] Growing up on a South African farm [00:06:32] Apartheid and the violence she saw [00:14:45] The night her mother shot her father in self-defense [00:19:54] Culture of alcoholism and speaking out [00:22:12] How trauma changed her relationship with her mom [00:25:35] Leaving South Africa for dance [00:27:16] Deciding to pursue acting and move to L.A. [00:31:40] Why she's drawn to action roles [00:33:25] Her experience with injuries and pain [00:37:44] Valuing life and being emotional [00:40:15] Her new movie “Apex” and the challenges of action roles [00:46:39] South Africa's resilience and joy [00:49:41] Founding a production compa