Her Meatiest Role Yet!

No stranger to transforming her body for her art, Charlize Theron piled on 22kg for her latest movie

WITH her flabby arms, puffy face and pudgy belly she’s barely recognisable as the lithe-limbed, glossy-haired star widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s most gorgeous women.

But Charlize Theron has never been one to put looks above her craft – and if a role demands she pile on the kilos, pull on shapeless mom jeans and look like she hasn’t washed her hair in three weeks, then so be it.

The latest movie to transform our Benoni beauty is Tully, a comedy-drama in which the 42-year-old plays Marlo, a mom of three at her wits’ end struggling to cope with an incompetent partner, money problems and her post-baby body.

Then Marlo’s wealthy brother presents her with a night nanny named Tully, with whom Marlo develops a special bond.

Morphing into Marlo was no mean feat for Charlize. In three and a half months she gained more than 22kg the old-fashioned way: guzzling sugary drinks, chomping down on fatty fast food and staying far away from the gym.

“I wanted to feel what this woman felt and I think [gaining weight] was a way for me to get closer to her and her mindset,” she says in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.

At first it was a blast. “It was fun to go and have breakfast at In-N-Out [burger chain] and have two milkshakes,” she said.

“The first three weeks are always fun because you’re like a kid in a candy store. And then after three weeks it’s not fun anymore. Like, all of a sudden you’re just done eating that amount and then it becomes a job.

“I had to set my alarm in the middle of the night in order to just maintain the weight.”

She went to bed with a cup of macaroni and cheese on her bedside table and forced herself to tuck in at 2 am. “I’d wake up and just eat it – I’d just like, shove it in my throat.”