She entered the film industry with her classic Hollywood looks and easily destroyed it with make-up for the role of a serial killer. She was a model and does not recognize «beauty standards». She claims that she does not belong to sensitive natures, and fights for animal rights. She has become a sex symbol and despises the view of a woman as an object. She takes big bites out of life. Not able to be content with moderate flavors and doses. Meeting Charlize Theron, who respects not symbols, but real life.
So puttanesca pasta: garlic, capers, asparagus, tomatoes in their own juice from a can, some cherry tomatoes…” Charlize pauses. She arrived from the supermarket and looks around at the mountain of food on the table. Her home in Beverly Hills is a complete bowl from an architectural point of view: a somewhat redundant neo-colonial style with Latin American splashes. Theron is going to make Puttanesca pasta for dinner and claims that her recipe is the most interesting thing she can tell me. “Place cherry halves fresh in hot pasta … And don’t forget: three standard packs of Italian pasta!” — «Why so much?» «But it’s for two!» she wonders. «For two?» I’m surprised now. Charlize thinks: “Yeah… Do you think it’s too much? But you also have to buy gray «peasant» bread, grate Parmesan and pour a little beer into the pasta! With a feeling similar to envy, I look at her thin, but with pleasant bulges, tall figure (after all, 1 m 77 cm!) And reflect on the injustice of fate …
And about justice too: 32-year-old Theron has gone through hard times, dramatic events, real tragedies, but here she towers over a mountain of food and shares a pasta recipe that even contains beer … She loves «red» meat, forbidden by the American anti-cholesterol ideology, drinks , still can not quit smoking, always answers directly, reacts without caution.
She takes big bites out of life. Not able to be content with moderate flavors and doses. Yes, life did not offer her a “dietary diet” … Her agent strongly recommended that I not ask questions about my father. From which I concluded that this topic is extremely significant. I didn’t make any promises to the agent.
- Eva Green: «I’m actually blonde»
Psychologies: I want to ask you about something that seems really important to me. And, probably, about the most traumatic in your life …
Charlize Theron: About father? About how I survived his death?
Have you survived?
PC.: I was 15. We then had a farm near Johannesburg, my parents raised some cattle and ostriches … My father arrived in the evening completely drunk. In a fit of aggression, he began aiming his gun at us. God knows how many times. Mom grabbed the gun with which we shot wild dogs and jackals … She shot my father. An obvious case of self-defense. She was not accused.
And you yourself — did not blame?
PC.: My life is the answer to this question. When I settled in Los Angeles and bought a house, the first thing I did was ask my mom and step dad to move in with me. Now their house is 10 minutes from mine. The death of a father is a trauma. But then, after his death, at some point I realized: it happened, you can’t change anything. Now I have to choose: either this terrible thing lives instead of me, or I live my own life. I chose the second. But for the sake of truth, I must say that I have always been my mother’s daughter. The father was an alcoholic. I realized this long before his death: it affected my mother’s life every day. It was because of his alcoholism and wild scenes that my mother sent me to a boarding school in Johannesburg at the age of 13 … But my father was a very generous person, he could take off his last shirt to help someone. Not a single birthday in my childhood passed without his gift: jewelry, a horse, a car. Yes, at the age of 14 I already had my own car — I had been driving since the age of nine, and I even learned how to drive a tractor. Yes, dad was a generous person, but, you know, generous in some purely material sense. I can’t remember a single moment when we sat next to each other and just talked … I can’t. Mom is another matter. I owe her everything. And especially her cracks!
- How to survive with an alcoholic
I mean… in what sense?
PC.: That is, my mother was always interested in me and what was happening in my life, and strictly controlled it. And at the same time she remained my best friend, my most “confidant”. I don’t know how she balanced between these two positions. But she is generally capable of a lot, if not everything. She taught me how to milk a cow and think carefully about how you dress — she herself is still a beauty. She trusted me with a tractor and responded vividly to my whims. I want to do ballet? Please, she took me to courses 100 miles away. Do I want to go to art school now? And again we go God knows where twice a week. Am I going to seriously play the guitar? Please, classical guitar lessons! Everything related to my development was not discussed: I want it, so it is necessary. When my father died, my mother had to take care of all the affairs of his road construction company. It turned out that the company had a lot of debts — the father hid how things were going. The manager from the bank urged my mother: «Gerda, you can’t do it, sell your business.» These were hard times, but my mother persevered, I helped her then with bills and banking. The company recovered. It was then that my mother became something like a life model for me, a person that I would like to become over time. But she was very strict. And she could really hit me hard. Once — when I rudely answered one old woman in the store. Another time — when, without taking off her school uniform, she ate tomato soup and slapped it. There were a third and a fourth. Moreover, mom could hit with what was at hand — a hair brush, a hanger with the image of Disney characters. And I went to school with a cartoon all over my ass. But if you knew how grateful I am to her for this!
Do you think that beating children means disciplining them?
PC.: I believe that the habit of discipline, self-discipline are extremely important things. It is they who «prepare fate.» In the 12 years that I have been doing ballet, endless exercises and rehearsals have taught me to live with constant physical exertion. When I won a modeling competition in Johannesburg and later, at the age of 16, when I moved to Italy, to Milan, self-restraint in terms of food began. Although all this model ideology — “throw off another 2 kg and become a superstar” — is ridiculous to me, if not disgusting … But one way or another, at first my mother disciplined me, then 10 hours a day of classes in a ballet class, then — calorie restrictions. I think if my successes have any reasons, then these are cracks and restrictions.
And many believe that you became a serious actress thanks to personal dramas and injuries. That’s why you were able to play tragic roles in The Devil’s Advocate, The Monster, The North Country, The Cider House Rules.
PC.: I don’t think this is a compliment … I think that it’s just capable! But seriously, I was able to act because I just really wanted to play it, because I knew how important it was. What these roles and these films say about women and women’s destiny is something that society should understand and accept. I remember that feeling: this is very important, and therefore everything needs to be overcome. It often visited me in my youth, when I found myself on the very edge. Then I become especially convincing — some reserves open up.
Have you experienced such situations when you had to find previously hidden resources in yourself?
PC.: Well, yes… I came to Los Angeles from New York after a knee injury, when I had to give up all my dreams of a ballet career…
Was this injury worse than the knee injury?
PC.: It was only last year that I finally decided to throw away tutus, pointe shoes … It was especially a pity to part with flamenco costumes — I danced classical, but practically specialized in flamenco … So, then my mother bought me a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. Partly, perhaps, so that I could fulfill her youthful dreams, partly because after the end of apartheid, the prospects for the white minority in South Africa looked pessimistic. She told me, “Ten to one you won’t succeed. But at least you try.» This parting word remains my philosophy of life until now. But then I just didn’t know what to do, how to make money? I was confused on a physical level: just recently, standing at the barre, I could press my leg to my head, and now I can’t even straighten it at an angle of 90 degrees to my body … I thought: Los Angeles, probably something acting … I lived in bed bugs under the symbolic name for me “Farmer’s Daughter” … The ulcer broke out — I earned it in high school … And now I stand in line at the cashier in the bank, and the clerk refuses to cash my check. Just something for 150 dollars! Something seemed suspicious to him. And I thought it was the end. And I threw a fantastic tantrum, knowing full well that I was throwing a tantrum — inside I was in such cold, icy despair: if the check was not cashed, I would have nowhere to sleep. While the guards were pushing me out of the bank, some person — he was standing in line behind me — handed me his business card. I thought: again a pimp — from them in the «Daughter of the Farmer» I regularly received offers. John Crosby turned out to be a serious acting agent. I called. He got me into acting school. After a while, through his efforts, I was given the first role. Maybe this is a case, or maybe my survival instinct activated, and then for the first time I seriously played a role …
- Diane Kruger: “It is important for me to know that I am respected”
Did the fact that you grew up, in essence, in a deep province matter in your life, for your career?
PC.: Is South Africa a province? The province cannot be where history is made! And I grew up in a country where history was made, a country where 26 languages are spoken and several national communities live! In a country where nature is closer to human civilization than anywhere else on the globe! In the country where Mandela lived and lives — perhaps the last undisputed hero of the twentieth century!
I’m sorry if I unwittingly offended you. But I wanted to ask you about your South African roots.
PC.: And what did the Americans give the Americans? I have a friend whose ancestors were among the first settlers, among those who crossed the American continent in wagons. She believes that sometimes the «ethics of the Frontier» says in her: «No matter what happens, I will stand it.» Our ethics are somewhat similar: we also conquered alien spaces and won them back from other tribes. We also survived. And I knew from childhood: you can feel sorry for yourself, but not for long, then you have to overcome what happened, because it has already happened and has nothing to do with you anymore. All this is aimed at survival. And my mother, a real South African, always said: “If you show your weakness, there will always be someone in the room who wants to take advantage of it.” I learned that too. I do not enter any «room» weak.
You launched a campaign against sexual violence in South Africa when it was not customary to talk about it there. You are fighting for animal rights. You cried when you met Nelson Mandela, your hero… Over the years, your feelings and impulses have not become quieter? The struggle for survival, Hollywood career, stardom, Oscars, finally, did not affect you in this sense?
PC.: I have never been a particularly romantic, I just have a developed imagination: if you are the only child in the family and live on a farm, then you involuntarily entertain yourself — this is where imagination comes to the rescue … What life has really taught me is the understanding that you cannot live without doing evil. I myself unwittingly committed betrayals. It’s sad, but inevitable. That agent, Mr. Crosby, has a grudge against me. I left him. I moved to another agency, where I clearly had more prospects. And I don’t regret leaving. I’m sorry that it hurt John’s feelings that I didn’t get to talk to him. Everyone commits such betrayals. You won’t change anything here. And therefore it is necessary to do something that is more useful in its usefulness than your little life, which will serve as an excuse for your inevitable betrayals.
- Charlotte Gainsbourg: «I don’t know what shame is»
On your way there was an experience of disappointments … Did it affect your relationship with the opposite sex?
PC.: But I’m telling you: I’m not a romantic by nature. And never expected too much from a relationship. But in some ways, I’m pretty uncompromising. My father was not a model of fidelity: he disappeared somewhere for weeks. According to the theory of some psychologists, this could develop in me a tolerance for a certain type of male behavior, for example, cheating. But no, I do not continue relationships with those who deceived me. This doesn’t make sense to me. And the relationship that has been connecting me for six years now with Stewart (Stuart Townsend, Irish actor. — Approx. ed.) Is absolutely honest. We do not hide anything from each other. And we don’t expect anything special from each other. We just love living together. Only Stuart speaks the truth straight to my face. The morning after the Oscars, I woke up and proudly ordered him: «Breakfast!» And he told me: “Oscar winners, just because they are winners, are not served!” And turned over to the other side. It’s good to know that a person is with you not at all because you are successful.
Almost forgot to ask! And why pasta — «Puttanesca»?
PC.: From the word «confused». Everything is thrown into it — absolute promiscuity in communications. But — the fullness of taste!
Private bussiness
- 1975 Born on August 7 in the town of Benoni, South Africa, in the family of Charles Theron, a Frenchman by birth, and his wife Gerda, a German by blood.
- 1989 Starts modeling in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
- 1990 Father killed by mother in self-defense.
- 1991 Wins a beauty contest and leaves for Milan to pursue a modeling career.
- 1992 Joined by the famous Joffrey Ballet (New York, USA).
- 1994 Forced to leave ballet due to a knee injury; moves to Los Angeles.
- 1996 «Two Days in the Valley» by John Hertzfield, the first notable film role.
- 1997 The Devil’s Advocate by Taylor Hackford (co-stars Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino); becomes the «face» of the campaign against sexual violence in South Africa.
- 1998 «Celebrity» by Woody Allen; the beginning of a personal relationship with rock musician Stephen Jenkins.
- 1999 The Cider House Rules by Lasse Hallström.
- 2001 «Curse of the Jade Scorpion» by Woody Allen; begins a serious personal relationship with Irish actor Stuart Townsend.
- 2004 «Oscar» and «Golden Globe» for his role in «Monster» by Patty Jenkins; meeting with Nelson Mandela.
- 2005 Niki Caro’s «North Country»: honored with a personalized star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- 2007 Producing, shooting in Alan Parker’s film «Ice at the Bottom of the World»; shooting in the action movie by Stuart Townsend «Battle in Seattle»; became the «face» of the American Animal Defenders Organization (PETA) campaign against killing animals for fur.