I Relish Change

Charlize Theron, Oscar-winning actress and SA’s golden girl, talks to us about taking risks, what it’s like to be comfortably single at 42, and why she never misses breakfast with her kids

Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron, 42, needs very little by way of introduction – we’ve seen her in everything from Monster and North Country to Young Adult and Mad Max. Over the last few years, with releases like Atomic Blonde and The Fate of the Furious, she’s developed a reputation for playing hardcore characters who break conventional stereotypes for women. This month, she’s moving away from the action roles to play Marlo, an exhausted mom of three, in Jason Reitman’s comedy-drama Tully.

Charlize’s other passion, besides acting, lies in the charity and humanitarian work she does through the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP), where she helps educate and support SA’s youth regarding HIV/AIDS prevention. Charlize was in a long-term relationship with actor Stuart Townsend, but the couple split up in 2010. She’s still single and now lives in LA with her adopted children, Jackson, six, and August, two. Her mom, Gerda, lives down the road.

Do I take risks? Yes, maybe I do.

But it’s the only way to grow both personally and professionally. It’s impossible to calculate how a film will turn out and what the after-effects will be on your career. I always try to choose characters who reveal authentic parts of myself, and I do try to break patterns and change people’s perceptions of me. But I don’t keep count of the roles I think will be unconventional. I just live in the moment, and I probably don’t always behave in the way people expect.

Overall, I look at life as a spiritual journey.