Speaking to NPR as part of the press tour for her new film Bombshell, she described the night her father came home after heavy drinking armed with a gun.
“My father was so drunk that he shouldn’t have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun,” she said.
“My mom and I were in my bedroom leaning against the door, because he was trying to push through the door.
“So both of us were leaning against the door from the inside to have him not be able to push through. 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.
“But in self-defence, she ended the threat.”
Theron’s mother grabbed a handgun and shot back, killing Theron’s father and wounding his brother.
No charges were laid, with Theron’s mother found to have been acting in self-defence.
Theron described her father as “a very sick man” and “an alcoholic all my life”, and revealed what it was like to live with him.
“I only knew him one way, and that was as an alcoholic … It was a pretty hopeless situation,” she said.
“Our family was just kind of stuck in it. And the day-to-day unpredictability of living with an addict is the thing that you sit with and have embedded in your body for the rest of your life, more than just this one event of what happened one night.”
She said her family life was “incredibly unhealthy”.
“Of course, I wish what happened that night would have never happened,” she said.
“It’s, unfortunately, what happens when you don’t get to the root of these issues.”
Theron detailed why she’s not ashamed to speak about the incident.
“This family violence, this kind of violence that happens within the family, is something that I share with a lot of people. I’m not ashamed to talk about it, because I do think that the more we talk about these things, the more we realise we are not alone in any of it,” Theron explained.
“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 is currently promoting Bombshell, a film about the women who exposed sexual harassment at Fox News and brought down CEO Roger Ailes.
The South African-born actress plays Megyn Kelly, the network’s biggest star, who came forward with allegations against Ailes.
Family and domestic violence support services
New Zealand:
- Shine national helpline
0508 744 633
- Women’s Refuge
0800 refuge or 0800 733 843
- It’s Not Ok
0800 456 450
Australia:
- 1800 Respect national helpline
1800 737 732
- Women’s Crisis Line
1800 811 811
- Lifeline:
131 114