20 April 2026
Charlize Theron was left terrified by drunks amid her abusive father’s alcoholism.
Charlize Theron was left terrified by drunks amid her abusive father’s alcoholism.
The actress made the admission as she spoke about her childhood in South Africa, describing an upbringing marked by alcohol abuse and tension within her family home.
Charlize, 50, reflected on her early life in an interview with The New York Times, detailing experiences growing up with her father, Charles Theron, and her mother, Gerda Jacoba Aletta Martiz – who ended up shooting her dad dead in self-defence.
The actress said her father struggled with alcohol and that the atmosphere in their home was often shaped by his behaviour.
She was 15 when her mother fatally shot her father in 1991 in what was later ruled self-defence.
Charlize, who later left South Africa at 16 to pursue modelling in Europe, said her upbringing influenced her independence and outlook.
She added: “I have memories from when I was really young, seeing really drunk people, and it scared me. Like, people crawling on the floor drunk. That became so consistent that it was every Friday, Saturday, maybe even every Wednesday.”
Opening up about how her dad was a “full-blown functioning drunk”, she added: “My dad had built this big bar inside the house. He had moments where he would go missing, we wouldn’t know where he was and he would usually return in a state that was pretty severe. It would get messy and loud, and my mom’s not a wallflower either. She wasn’t just sitting and taking it. She made it known that she wasn’t happy about his lifestyle. So, it really caused a lot of verbal abuse.”
Charlize also said about the impact of the environment on her as a child: “Personally, for me, the worst thing was (when my mother and father) would ice each other. There would be a big fight, and then they wouldn’t talk for three weeks. I didn’t have siblings, and that house just went silent.”
She clarified her father had not been physically violent towards her, but described his behaviour as intimidating.
Charlize said: “He was scary. He didn’t hit me, he didn’t throw me against a wall, but he would do things like drive drunk.
“There was a lot of verbal abuse, a lot of threatening language that just became normal.”
Charlize said her mother took steps to protect her, including enrolling her in boarding school.
She said: “(My mother) was very aware of what it was doing to me. All the memories are there, and it’s not that I don’t try and think about it, but going in such a linear manner, it becomes almost more clear when you talk about it this way. Because people tend to just isolate it and want to talk about one thing.
“It helps to explain that these things build, and they build, and it takes years for things to go as wrong as it did in my house.”
Reflecting on leaving South Africa, Charlize – who now has adopted daughters Jackson and August – said: “I was so equipped. I knew how to take care of myself. That’s just something my mom instilled in me, my lifestyle instilled me, my country did. You know how to cook, how to sew. I knew more than my kids will ever know as adults about taking care of myself. I knew I would be able to survive, and I also had this real drive. I was so determined to do this on my own and not to fail, because I didn’t want to go back.”
