Charlize Theron Recalls Daughter Jackson Feeling 'Hurt' Over Being Called the 'Wrong Pronouns'
As her daughters grow up, Charlize Theron is striving to support them in whatever ways they need.
In a candid interview with Pride Source surrounding her new film Bombshell, the 44-year-old actress opened up about how even she is still learning when it comes to using the correct pronouns for her older daughter, 7½-year-old Jackson.
“Well, this is all pretty new for us, so it hasn’t really kind of come into question. I don’t really necessarily know if it will,” said Theron, who’s also mom to 4-year-old August, of whether her experience as a mom affects the LGBTQ+ characters she chooses to play.
“My daughter’s story is really her story, and one day, if she chooses, she’ll tell her story,” the star continued. “I feel like as her mother, for me, it was important to let the world know that I would appreciate it if they would use the right pronouns for her.”
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A post shared by Charlize Theron (@charlizeafrica) on Aug 25, 2019 at 12:38pm PDT
Theron shared that “it became harder for us the older she got that people were still writing about her in the wrong pronouns, and also I was still talking about her in the press using the wrong pronoun.”
“It really hurt her feelings,” she admitted. “I don’t want to be that mom, and that was really why I said what I said a while back.” (In an April interview with the Daily Mail, Theron said Jackson told her when she was 3 years old, “I am not a boy!”)
“I haven’t really talked about it ever since, again, because outside of just asking that respectfully of the press — and the world, hopefully — the rest is really private and it’s her story, and it’s really up to her to decide if she wants to share that,” Theron explained.
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Theron said her children are “a little too young” for all the ins and outs on the topics of sexuality and gender, “but we definitely have these conversations whenever they say, ‘I’m gonna get married’ and I’m always like, ‘What is it gonna be? A boy or a girl? What is it gonna be?’ I love that my kids just know that that’s a normal question to ask.”
“[August] is convinced that she’s gonna be married five times and it’s gonna be three boys and two girls, and I just love that she has the freedom to think that way,” the Oscar winner continued.
“God knows what it’s going to be, but I love that she feels safe enough to explore in her little-girl brain that anything is possible and that she’s gonna go and discover that for herself,” Theron added.
