When Charlize Theron Reflected on Her 'Trauma' After Her Mother’s Horrific Self-Defense Gunshot

In an interview, Charlize Theron spoke frankly about her trauma of seeing her mother kill her father in self-defense. The actor spoke out about the disturbing incident and if it made her resolve to end violence against women in a 2023 interview with Town & Country. The interview also highlighted her 2020 co-launched #TogetherForHer project to support victims and survivors of pandemic-era violence throughout the globe.

This effort was a direct result of the childhood trauma, which had a profound impact on Theron's life. Theron told the outlet at the time, "I would say this: It’s a simple correlation to make. But I think it’s way more complicated than having just one night of trauma in your life. With or without that, gender-based violence is so in your face in South Africa and globally. It’s hard to not be aware of these things just purely by being a woman."

In 1991, the event took place when Charles, her father, threatened both Theron and her mother, Gerda Maritz. In December 2019, Theron narrated the incident to NPR, "My father was so drunk that he shouldn’t have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun. My mom and I were in my bedroom leaning against the door because he was trying to push through the door. So, both of us were leaning against the door from the inside to have him not being 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."

Gerda took out her pistol and shot her husband to death right in front of their teenage daughter. Theron's mother was cleared of all charges after an inquiry into the 1991 shooting, which was determined to have been a case of self-defense.

Theron further explained her fear of sharing her pain and her father's death on Howard Stern's Radio Program in 2017. Initially, she tried to ignore the problem by sweeping it under the rug. As reported by People, she confessed, "I didn’t tell anybody — I didn’t want to tell anybody. Whenever anybody asked me, I said my dad died in a car accident. Who wants to tell that story? Nobody wants to tell that story."

Theron then revealed the reason why she hid it for so long. She went on to say that she had a hard time overcoming her feelings of victimhood for a long time, even before she began therapy. It wasn't until she was in her late twenties or early thirties that she began to recover from the long course of therapy. Furthermore, she came to the realization, after enduring years of hardship, that the most traumatic event in her life was not her father's death. She elaborated, "I think what more affected me for my adult life that happened in my childhood was more the everyday living of a child living in the house with an alcoholic and waking up not knowing what was going to happen." Theron went on to say that her mother was a big reason why she was so strong and courageous. Despite the horrific obstacles she faced in her past, Theron has indeed built a new life for herself. Her mother has, of course, been there for her the whole time.