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Charlize Theron recalls the night her mom killed her dad as he went on shooting spree: 'He was going to kill us'
Charlize Theron's father was shot and killed by her mother in 1991, in what was later found to be an act of self-defence.
Actor Charlize Theron has established herself as one of the most vocal advocates of laws against domestic violence worldwide. In a recent interview, the Oscar winner revealed it was due to the instability and violence she saw in her own house growing up. Charlize revealed that things got to a point where her own father tried to kill her, leading her mother to intervene and fatally shoot him in self-defence.
Charlize Theron recalls her father's alcoholism
In an interview with The New York Times, Charlize spoke about seeing violence around her growing up in South Africa. She described her father’s battles with alcoholism. “He was a full-blown functioning drunk, but 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. Personally, for me, the worst thing was they 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.”
Charlize revealed that when she was around 12-13, her mother contemplated divorce for the first time. Things eventually came to a head in 1991, when her father was almost violent towards her for a trivial thing, leading to her mother protecting her.
‘He was going to kill us’
The actor recalled, “He shot through the steel doors to get in, making it very clear that he was going to kill us. His brother was with him as well. We knew it was serious, and so by the time he broke into the first gate, my mom ran to the safe to get her gun. She came into my bedroom. The two of us were holding the door with our bodies because there wasn’t a lock on it. And he just stepped back and started shooting through the door. And this is the crazy thing: Not one bullet hit us. It’s insane when you think about it that way. But the messaging was very clear. I’m going to kill you tonight. You think I can’t come in through this door? Watch me. I’m going to go to the safe. I’m going to get the shotgun. Encouragement from the brother. He walked to the safe, and my mom pulled the door open while the brother was still standing there. The brother ran down the hallway, and she shot one bullet down the hallway that ricocheted seven times and shot him in the hand. It’s stuff you can’t explain. And then she followed my father, who was by then opening the safe to get more weapons out, and she shot him.”
Charlize Theron's life after the shooting
The shooting was legally adjudged to have been self-defence, and Charlize’s mother faced no charges. The actor moved out of South Africa the following year, first to begin a modelling career in Europe, before making her way to Hollywood in 1994. She got her breakthrough with the 1997 release, The Devil’s Advocate, which also starred Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. For her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the 2003 release Monster, Charlize won the Oscar for Best Actress. She is currently awaiting the release of Christopher Nola’s The Odyssey.
