Candid confessions. Charlize Theron hasn’t shied away from sharing her parenting anecdotes since becoming a mom.
The Oscar winner adopted her first child, Jackson, in 2012, followed by August three years later. The actress loved starting her family later on in life, telling W magazine in April 2015: “I do know that choosing to be a mom in my late 30s has been really great for me. It’s given me perspective.”
That same year, the Bombshell star told British Vogue that she “always” wanted to have children. “[I hope] to be like my mom. Fair, tough, and supportive,” the South Africa native told the outlet at the time. “Our family is everything. Her greatest skill was encouraging me to find my own person and own independence.”
Now that she’s got two little ones at home, the Golden Globe winner is content with her single status — but Jackson and August want their mom to date.
“Two days ago I was in the car with my two girls and my little one said something like, ‘You need a boyfriend!'” Theron said during a July 2020 “In Charge With DVF” podcast episode. “And I said, ‘Actually, I don’t. Right now, I feel really good,’ and she’s like, ‘You know what, Mom? You just need a boyfriend. You need a relationship!’”
After telling her daughter she was in a relationship with herself, the Atomic Blonde star told Diane von Fürstenberg: “She had this look in her eye like she had never really contemplated that that was even a possibility. Her mind was blown, but I know that was the day that she realized there’s a different possibility.”
Theron’s last public relationship was with actor Sean Penn. The former couple called it quits in 2015.
“In my honesty about wanting to have more kids, there was an understanding that a relationship had to go somewhere before it was going to be — what you hope for, which ultimately did not happen,” she told WSJ Magazine of the failed relationship the following year. “I couldn’t foresee that, but that stuff takes time and I think it’s my responsibility as a mother to protect my child from that. And we had a very clear understanding.”
Keep scrolling to see the Emmy nominee’s quotes about parenting over the years, from coparenting with her mom, Gerda Maritz, to sharing life lessons.