Charlize Theron Recounts Night Her Mom Fatally Shot Her Dad in Self-Defense

Charlize Theron is getting deeply candid, describing in detail the night her mother fatally shot her abusive, alcoholic father in self-defense. 

In an interview with The New York Times Magazine, Theron opened up about the harrowing 1991 confrontation, in which her brave mother took action to save their lives. 

Theron was 15 when her father got upset that she did not greet him at her uncle’s house.

She said, "I had to pee really badly. So I ran into the house to get to the toilet, and he took that as me being rude, because I didn’t stop and say hello to everybody. Big thing in South Africa, the kind of respect that you have to have for elders. And he was in a state where he just spiraled. Like: 'Why didn’t you stop? Who do you think you are?'"

According to Theron, things got confrontational when they got home.

She shared, "I went into my room, I turned my lights off, and I was scared. My window faced the driveway, and I could tell the level of anger, frustration or unhappiness by the way he drove in. The way that he drove into that property that night, I can’t explain it to you. I just knew something bad was going to happen.”

"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,” Theron recalled. "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.”

“Not one bullet hit us,” Charlize noted.

She emphasized, "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 into this door? Watch me. I’m going to go to the safe. I’m going to get the shotgun.'"

"He walked to the safe, and my mom pulled the door open while the brother was still standing there," Charlize recounted. "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."

South African authorities ruled the shooting was justified and no charges were filed. 

Charlize has always been open about how her mother has been her rock, and now that she’s a mom, she’s passing along her strength to her two daughters.

Theron revealed that she was telling her story to help “other people not feel alone.”