“I Can't Explain” —Charlize Theron Opens Up About Her Mom Shooting Her Dad In Self-defense When She Was 15

Charlize Theron has spoken about a traumatic experience from her teenage years. The Mad Max: Fury Road star said her mother fatally shot her father in self-defense during an alleged attack on them.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Theron said she was 15 when the incident occurred. Her father allegedly threatened her and her mother at their home in South Africa, where she grew up before moving to the United States.

In the interview, Charlize Theron revealed that for several months, the relationship between her parents was severely strained. Her father, who struggled with alcoholism, became increasingly aggressive, and her mother could no longer tolerate his behavior. It was at that point that she decided to leave him.

However, the incident occurred shortly after. Theron recalled that one evening, her father pulled his car into their driveway, and she saw it through her bedroom window. "The way that he drove into that property that night, I can't explain it to you. I just knew something bad was going to happen," Theron said.

She recalled, "Our country was on the brink of civil war" at that time, so many houses had steel doors. The actress revealed that her dad "shot through the steel doors to get in, making it very clear that he was going to kill us. His brother was with him as well."

"We knew it was serious, and so by the time he broke into the first gate, my mom ran to the safe to get her gun. She came into my bedroom. The two of us were holding the door with our bodies because there wasn't a lock on it. And he just stepped back and started shooting through the door," recalled Theron.

She added that they were lucky that "not one bullet hit us." The Atomic Blonde star told The New York Times, "It's insane when you think about it that way. But the messaging was very clear. I'm going to kill you tonight. You think I can't come into this door? Watch me. I'm going to go to the safe. I'm going to get the shotgun."

She continued, "He walked to the safe, and my mom pulled the door open while the brother was still standing there. The brother ran down the hallway, and she shot one bullet down the hallway that ricocheted seven times and shot him in the hand. It's stuff you can't explain."

Charlize Theron added, "And then she followed my father, who was by then opening the safe to get more weapons out, and she shot him."

Sharing the experience, the “Mad Max” star said, "I think these things should be talked about because it makes other people not feel alone." She added, "These things are prevalent in a lot of homes. Women really get a very, very unfair shake, even in the country. Nobody takes it seriously, the situation that they're in. And I don't think anybody took my mom seriously."