Charlize's Call For Help I Felt Like I Was Dying

The star’s weight gain led her down a dark path.

When she first set about gaining 16kg for her latest film role, Charlize Theron felt “like a kid in a candy store” as she gorged on fast food and milkshakes for breakfast, and woke in the middle of the night to feast on macaroni and cheese.

But after just three weeks, the extra weight began to affect her mental health. “It hit me hard,” confesses the South African stunner, 42. “It really messed with my head. I had depression for the first time in my life shooting this film. It was brutal in every sense. I called my doctor and said, ‘I feel as if I’m dying!’”

Charlize famously gained 13kg for her Oscar-winning turn as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the 2003 movie Monster, but being 15 years older made a huge difference to how her body handled the weight. She says, “The way your face changes. Your hands, fingers, shoe size ... My feet got so fat, I was living in Uggs.”

This time, it was also harder to lose the kilos. Charlize tells, “I filmed Monster when I was 27, then I just stopped snacking for three weeks and was back to my normal weight.”