Charlize Theron Explains Why She Hasn’t Dated Someone in More Than 5 Years

Photo credit: NurPhoto - Getty Images
Photo credit: NurPhoto - Getty Images

From Prevention

  • Charlize Theron, 45, opened up about her dating life on The Drew Barrymore Show.

  • The actress said she has been single for more than five years.

  • Theron has been focusing on raising her adopted daughters Jackson, 8, and August, 5.


Charlize Theron shared a rare glimpse into her dating life on The Drew Barrymore Show. On Wednesday, the Old Guard actress made a virtual guest appearance on the new talk show.

“I’ve been on a few dates, but I haven’t dated anybody for over five years,” Theron revealed, while Barrymore admitted that she hasn’t either. “I’m open when friends of mine are like, ‘You should go on a date, you should meet this guy, but I feel like I’m in a place in my life where you have to come with a lot of game.’”

“Not the kind of game that we think of, the kind of game where my life is really good so you better be able to bring that and maybe better because I just won’t accept anything less,” Theron continued. She said her perspective on relationships has changed since she adopted her daughters Jackson, 8, and August, 5.

“I can honestly say I don’t feel lonely,” Theron added. “Once I had my children, it’s not that it replaces something, or that it makes you less interested in something else.”

Theron clarified that, just because she hasn’t dated, it doesn’t mean she doesn't think about potential candidates.

“I’m still firing on all cylinders. I just think your priorities are in a place that is of high demand, because it’s a lot of work to be a parent,” she told Barrymore. “Part of that is at the end of the day I get to bed and I think, ‘Oh my God, I wouldn't want this day to be any different.’”

Theron’s most recent relationship was with actor Sean Penn in 2015, and although there were rumors going around that they were engaged, Theron set the record straight in a June interview with The Howard Stern Show.

“I did not ‘almost get married to Sean’, that’s such bullshit,” she said. “We dated, that was literally all we did, we dated. It was a relationship, for sure. We were definitely exclusive, but it was for barely a year. We never moved in. I was never going to marry him. It was nothing like that.”

“I never wanted to get married,” she added. “That’s never been something that’s important to me. My life right now just doesn’t allow a lot of room for something like that to happen.”


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