Charlize Theron: 'Being a parent in general is a nice hard'
The mother of two is opening up about motherhood and how much her children have changed her for the better.
South African-born actress Charlize Theron says she appreciates her mother, Gerda Maritz, more since becoming a mom.
The 'Monster' actress opened up about parenthood during a recent appearance at the 10th Annual Philanthropy Summit, which was hosted by Town & Country.
Charlize, who has two children - 11-year-old Jackson and seven-year-old August, says she was raised by a "real baller".
"When you’re actually in [parenthood] and you’re experiencing it, the evidence is right there. You understand how you could have been so much better as a child," People magazine quoted her as saying at the event.
Charlize and her mother moved to America when she was just 17 years old. They left South Africa a few years after a traumatic domestic violence incident.
Gerda shot and killed Charlize's father Charles Theron in self-defence after he reportedly opened fire on them in 1991. The Hollywood star was 15 at the time.
"My father was so drunk that he shouldn’t have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun. My mom and I were in my bedroom leaning against the door because he was trying to push through the door... He took a step back and just shot through the door three times," the actress told NPR in 2019.
Charlize told the summit attendees that her mother did what every mother would have done in a similar situation.
"I think a mother will do anything, and she put herself in real harm’s way to protect me.”
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Charlize still has a close bond with her mother and the pair speak often. So much so that she says her daughters are picking up some Afrikaans.
"My children are like, ‘I don’t know what you said, but I think I know what you said.' They’re slowly picking it up," she said at the summit.
Charlize adopted her daughters Jackson and August in 2012 and 2015 respectively. The Oscar winner says her children always come first.
"Outside of [work], I’m an Uber driver. I drive all my kids all day, all night, to all their activities... [Being] a parent in general is a nice hard. When you’re in it, you’re like, ‘I’m never going to survive this.’ And then you get to the other side, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing. I can’t believe I did that,’” People quoted her as saying.
Main image credit: Instagram/@charlizeafrica
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