Actress Charlize Theron has shared the reason her mom killed her dad and admits she’s “not ashamed.”
The star, who was just 15 at the time, has opened up about the whole ordeal, and the terrifying moments that led up to her mother killing her father.
The 44-year-old spoke to NPR about the night it happened, revealing that her father, Charles Theron, threatened to kill her and her mom Gerda back in June 1991.
“My father was so drunk that he shouldn’t have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun,” Charlize said. “My mom and I were in my bedroom leaning against the door because he was trying to push through the door.”
She continued, “So both of us were leaning against the door from the inside to have him not be able to push through. He took a step back and just shot through the door three times.”
“None of the bullets ever hit us, which is just a miracle,” Charlize added.
In order to save herself and Charlize, Gerda shot Charles. “In self-defense, she ended the threat,” the actress said, and due to this, Gerda was never charged with his murder.
This moment has clearly impacted her life greatly, she added: “This family violence, this kind of violence that happens within the family, is something that I share with a lot of people.”
“I’m not ashamed to talk about it, because I do think that the more we talk about these things, the more we realize we are not alone in any of it,” she admitted. “I think, for me, it’s just always been that this story is about growing up with addicts and what that does to a person.”
She continued: “I think our family was an incredibly unhealthy one. And all of it, I think, scarred us in a way. Of course, I wish what happened that night would have never happened. It’s unfortunately what happens when you don’t get to the root of these issues.”
Since then Charlize has always looked up to her mom, praising her for passing on her strength. In 2018, she told Elle during the Women in Hollywood event: “I am lucky enough that I had a great mom who really kind of made me brave and always told me to be brave.”
“I don’t know who I might have been without that,” she added.