Charlize Theron reveals the family tragedy that shook her childhood | 60 Minutes Australia

in any fairy tale you need a few essential elements brave and handsome hero withstood villain and an enchanted castle all of England is a movie surface pretty much yeah so what better place to meet Charlize Theron the star of Hollywood's latest fairy tale blockbuster than an Old English castle you know people met ends as bloody as anything never happened in one of your movies well then it's very suited for us to be here you think I did that on purpose yeah good good shall we enter within yes welcome to my humble abode Charlize it's a great name I take it it's a feminine distraction from my name Charles yeah I think so yeah my mother is very mysterious about it you get charlie yeah yeah some of my friends call me Charlie some of my friends call me Chuck Chaz yeah I get Chuck in America in Australia Chuck means something else entirely the Charlize the wrong story is one of contrasts diamonds in dead beauty and the beast' glamour personal triumphs over tragedy thank you thank you thank you perhaps most striking of all is how this most beautiful 36 year old is drawn to the darkest and most unattractive of character what are you doing [Music] I don't think of myself as someone who is attracted to darkness or heaviness I'm in a very very light person it's the fact that it's complex and layered and and maybe I believe that the world is that not dark but complex and sometimes not pretty I don't believe in kind of sweeping those things under the rug because I am really comfortable looking at those things I always thought you'd be a serious woman well I am so I mean I don't don't spread the rumor that I'm not ya know don't tell people that they were very serious about your craft yes but not or am i bringing it serious I don't know I hate people who think they're curing cancer doing this I really do I I'm not earning so I think it's such a great gift it's like being in a circus this is a career that began has more style than substance South african-born Thorin stepped into the limelight as a mother [Music] and it proved the perfect grooming for one of her first Hollywood roles as a supermodel with the peculiar sensitivity in the Woody Allen film celebrity meaning every part of me gives me erotic pleasure I think every actor dreams to be in a black and white film and I got to be in a black and white film directed by Woody Allen and that to me was incredible absolutely incredible of course your role was extraordinary you're a very sexy supermodel who when touched anywhere on her body experiences hunger yeah there's a there's nothing like being a model turned actress and so I always vowed I should never do that and and leave it to Woody Allen the one and only person who could get me to go and play a model but it was her ability to play a monster that catapulted Charlize Theron from being just another attractive actor to becoming Hollywood royalty and I'm trying to clean my life up here you know go straight and Christian and also 2003 role as the real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Munster was described as one of the greatest performances in modern cinema certainly it was one of the great transformations and for Charlize her greatest challenge you know usually I would walk into rooms and be like I could do this and I think in a way it was the first time in my career that I wasn't a hundred percent sure if I could actually bring what was expected to this I think it's no reason why one of the most beautiful young actresses in the world can't play such a person I mean it is called acting isn't it yeah I think we've lost sight of what acting is you know character isn't told through celebrity yeah it really you have to be able to leave that at the door and show up with with a clean canvas and and and your job is to to tell that narrative as well as you can Charlie's there it really was as they say an oscar-winning performance you know that was my princess moment I really truly was he can't be jaded about that you know that was a really really nice thing he can't be jaded about the first one the W can be somewhat jaded with the second one of cool so double white Meryl Streep is one shaded [ __ ] so I'm gonna thank everybody in South Africa in my home country she was the first South African woman to win an Oscar Charlize rightly received a hero's welcome back home from her childhood hero Nelson Mandela I remember just having tea with him tea and a dessert and in South Africa that we call cook secesh it's a dessert that you yes it's incredibly sticky and he was touching my Oscar and then I left and there were all these sticky sugary fingerprints of his on the Oscar and I was just like I was like I'm never cleaning this Oscar ever again he's a great man yes it was a remarkable homecoming for the girl who grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Johannesburg but if the landscape appeared idyllic family life was far from it at the age of 15 Charlize witnessed and mothers shoot and kill her father in what was judged to be an act of self-defense how do you come from something like that I'm just going to have this stellar career I think if you haven't dealt with it then you're affected but I've completely dealt with it it's something that happened a very long time ago another reason why you know it's just kind of tiresome to always talk about it is because it feels like people want that to be the thing that defines me and maybe the reason that I am as healthy about it is because I won't let something like that define me now chalets has started a family of her own bringing home african-americans some Jackson after a two-year adoption process and while adoption might seem to be something of a fashion in Hollywood Charley's maintains it's something she has always wanted to do you don't take these matters lightly when it comes to making a commitment to a child's entire life I would have always adopted even if I was in a relationship so this wasn't a last resort for me and I just feel very lucky and very blessed from new mom to wicked stepmother the Romney's fabulously evil in the soon-to-be-released Snow White and the Huntsman this is a spectacular if not dark adaptations of the classic no one's ever seen this before it would seem fairytales up back and volume the original story written by the Brothers Grimm is incredibly dark and I kind of appreciate that because thematically they're strong and dark and real topics and I don't know maybe that's not necessarily bad for a teenager to witness these fairytales are ancient and they they resonate in the human subconscious in fact I'm payin yeah even in today's society it still feels like you're holding up a Marin and seeing something reflected in from that fairytale into our society and that's powerful come and avenge ill father she basically sets up this whole war in order to meet her King excuse me I have the feeling that's made my story I'm sneezing on camera Wow okay in a celebrity-obsessed world where even the sneeze can be an occasion there is something refreshing about Charlize the rock she's earthy smart or fainting and wise enough to calculate the odds and know just how lucky she is I remember very vividly when I did my first role I remember that I didn't sleep for like a week I was so excited I I didn't need to sleep and it was such an incredibly amazing feeling that I remember saying to myself if I can go through my life paying my rent and putting food on the table just doing this that would be amazing that would be a good life and you know life's been really really good to me I've got I've gotten that and a lot more so there's nothing but gratitude hello I'm Charles Wooley thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 285,787

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Peter Harvey, Ian Leslie, Sarah Abo, charlize, charlize theron, snow white and the huntsman, south african actress, charlize theron family, monster, bombshell

Id: 9t1I_cD7zOI

Length: 10min 42sec (642 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 05 2020