Charlize Theron Defends Her Mom Killing Her Dad

He shot through the steel doors to get into the house, making it very clear that he was going to kill us, and then followed my father, who was by then opening the safe to get more weapons out, and she shot him. Charlize Theron sharing the chilling details of the night her mother shot her father in an act of self-defense. I think these things should be talked about, you know, because it makes other people not feel alone. It's a complex load of emotions. The Oscar winner emotionally recalling that tragic night when she was just 15 years old, living with her parents in their native South Africa. Opening up to Lulu Garcia-Navarro on the New York Times' The Interview podcast, Charlize shares her account of what happened the night her father, Charles, allegedly came home drunk, planning to murder her and her mom, Gerda. But Gerda fought back in self-defense, killing Charles instead. He finally broke into the house. He shot through the steel doors to get into the house, making it very clear that he was going to kill us, and so by the time he broke into the first gate, my mom ran to the safe to get her gun. 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 not one bullet hit us. And then followed my father, who was by then opening the safe to get more weapons out, and she shot him. I think I've been very outspoken about my past and honest about it. My life was not a murder mystery. It was definitely different from that. The reason why Charlize is so open about her past? Because the trauma doesn't define her, and she wants to inspire change. I think these things should be talked about, you know, because it makes other people not feel alone, you know, and I feel like I never knew about a story like that. You know, when this happened to us, I thought we were the only people. I'm not haunted by any of this stuff anymore. It's just time. You just have to kind of like sit down and do the work.