Charlize Theron Opens Up About the 1991 Night Her Mother Shot Her Abusive Father in Self-Defense

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:32:00 +0200

In a candid interview with The New York Times Magazine, Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron revisited the traumatic events of June 1991 when she was just 15 years old. Theron detailed how her alcoholic father, Charles Theron, became violent after a minor incident earlier in the evening. Upon returning home with her mother Gerda, tensions escalated as her father arrived intoxicated and angry. Theron described sensing danger and how her father shot through the steel security doors of their South African home, explicitly threatening to kill both her and her mother. The pair barricaded themselves in a bedroom, holding the door shut while shots were fired. Remarkably, none of the bullets struck them. Her mother then retrieved a firearm and fired a shot that ricocheted multiple times before striking her father in the hand, followed by a fatal shot. The incident was ruled self-defense, and no charges were filed against her mother. Now 50, Theron emphasized that she is not haunted by