Charlize Theron details the night her mother shot and killed her gun-wielding dad in self-defense

Charlize Theron reveals frightening details of the night her mother shot and killed her gun-wielding dad in self-defense: ‘I am not ashamed’

• Charlize Theron is opening up about the night her mom killed her dad in self-defense and why she’s ‘not ashamed’ to talk about it in public
• The Oscar-winning actress was just 15-years-old when her dad Charles stormed into the family’s home near Johannesburg, South Africa, armed with a gun
• He shot several times through a bedroom door with the actress and her mother on the other side
• During all the frightening drama, her mother Gerda Theron, grabbed her own handgun, shot back, and killed him 
• After an investigation, the 1991 shooting was legally adjudged to have been self-defense, and her mother did not face any charges 

By Kevin Kayhart For Dailymail.com

Published: 08:11 GMT, 17 December 2019 | Updated: 14:30 GMT, 17 December 2019

Charlize Theron is opening up about the night her mom killed her dad in self-defense and why she’s ‘not ashamed’ to talk about it in public.

The Oscar-winning actress was just 15-years-old when her dad Charles Theron, stormed into the family’s home near Johannesburg, South Africa and shot several times through a bedroom door with the actress and her mother on the other side.

‘My father was so drunk that he shouldn’t have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun,’ she began in an interview with NPR.

Tragedy: Charlize Theron, 44, opened up about the night her mother shot and killed her father in self-defense when she was a teenager in 1991

Family: A young Charlize with her father Charles and mother Gerda before tragedy struck

She went on to share that both she and her mother were in her bedroom when her father tried to push his way through the door.

‘He took a step back and just shot through the door three times. None of those bullets ever hit us, which is just a miracle.

During all the frightening drama, her mother Gerda Theron, grabbed her own handgun, shot back, and killed him.

‘But in self-defense, she ended the threat, the Monster star added. 

After an investigation, the 1991 shooting was legally adjudged to have been self-defense, and her mother did not face any charges. 

Candid: During all the frightening drama, her mother Gerda Theron, grabbed her own handgun, shot back, and killed him; pictured with mom Gerda at the 91st Annual Academy Awards on February 24, 2019 in Beverly Hills

Family history: Theron maintains she’s not ashamed when it comes to talking about the freighting night of the shooting and her father’s alcoholic history: ‘My father was a sick man’

 Turns out Theron’s father had a long history of being an unpredictable drunk.

“My father was a very sick man. My father was an alcoholic all my life. I only knew him one way, and that was as an alcoholic,’ she explained.

The Mad Max: Fury Road actress, 44, made a point of asserting that she’s not ashamed of talking about the tragic event in public.

‘This family violence, this kind of violence that happens within the family, is something that I share with a lot of people,’ she said. 

Freighting: Theron was just 15 when her mother shot and killed her father in self-defense; she is pictured several years before the tragic event

‘I do think that the more we talk about these things, the more we realize we are not alone in any of it. I think, for me, it’s just always been that this story really is about growing up with addicts and what that does to a person.’ 

Theron also confessed that she perceived her family dynamic as a youngster as a ‘hopeless situation.’   

‘I think our family was an incredibly unhealthy one. And all of it, I think, scarred us in a way. Of course, I wish what happened that night would have never happened. It’s unfortunately what happens when you don’t get to the root of these issues.’

In the past Theron has credited her mother with helping shape her into a strong and brave woman.

 

  

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