Charlize Theron recalls night of ‘trauma’ after her mom shot and killed her father

Charlize Theron has been through a lot of trauma in her lifetime and she has bravely opened up about that in a new interview.

When the 48-year-old actor was just 15, her life changed forever after an altercation between her mom and dad.

Charlize's father Charles Theron stormed into the family's home near Johannesburg, South Africa and fired a gun several times through a bedroom door with the actor and mom Gerda on the other side.

Gerda then proceeded to grabbing her own handgun, subsequently opening fire and killing her husband in front of Charlize.

An investigation took place following the shooting, where it was legally adjudged to have been self-defense, meaning Gerda did not face any criminal charges.

Certainly a traumatising experience to go through at any age, but to do so at the young age of 15, the majority of us can't even begin to imagine.

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The South African fronts the cover of Town & Country's November 2023 and opened up on how the traumatic moment changed her life forever.

The actor was asked first of all if that night spurred her to speak up about violence against women, to which she replied: "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."

Elsewhere in the interview, Charlize spoke about growing up in South Africa at a time where the country was dogged with violence and the devastating AIDS epidemic.

"I was around 10 years old, and people around me were dying and scared. We now know that it was HIV and AIDS, but not a lot of people had that information then," the actor said.

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"It left an impression on me from a young age that has always been hard to shake.

"Growing up in a country under apartheid and having AIDS come. Those things really, really marked me - I almost want to say more than just that one night in my life."

To combat violence in Africa and the rest of the globe, Charlie founded the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Program in 2007, with the actor donating $500,000 to get the project up and running.