From the moment Charlize Theron nabbed that Oscar she’s been regarded as a national treasure, even if her Saffa accent has somewhat slipped away and she calls the U.S. home.

You wouldn’t know it but she recently turned 40, opening up to the Wall Street Journal about a number of issues close to her heart. The whole piece is worth a read but we’ll focus on South Africa and El Chapo’s mate Sean Penn:

The region’s history isn’t lost on Theron, who grew up in South Africa under apartheid. “I have a lot of things I should probably sort out in therapy about my relationship with my country. Because it’s affected me way more than I’ve ever acknowledged. And it was only when I got older that I started realizing that I had a lot of anger; there was a lot of unresolved stuff—apartheid, health care, AIDS, poverty—that still very much affects me.” Theron pauses. It’s clear that, beyond politics, her pain has personal dimensions. “It makes you realize that the circumstances of your formative years, it leaves a real scar—it marks you. It’s the one thing that gets me really angry, really emotional. It’s a lot of f—ing suffering, and unnecessary suffering.

“And just people getting the s— kicked out of them for a very, very long time,” Theron says, overcome by a rush of tears. She breathes deeply, trying to hold them back. “Yeah. Sorry.”

Then onto the bit about Penn:

Theron’s much-scrutinized 18-month relationship with Penn was a rare match: two accomplished actors, both committed to social activism, each the other’s intellectual and artistic equal. She entered into the relationship with the 55-year-old actor just as she exited it—open to possibility but upfront and unapologetic about her priorities. Theron, who’d been friends with Penn for years, started dating him around two years after she adopted Jackson. “We were very, very new in a relationship,” she says. “The stories saying that Sean was going to adopt Jackson and all of that were not true. It’s not something that happens in 18 months. You can’t do that to a child. So there was an understanding that I was a single mom with a very young boy who I had to put in a situation where he understood that Mommy dates but that he does not have a father, you know what I mean? You have to be very careful and very honest about that stuff. And Sean was great with all of that.

“And 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. 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 so we had a very clear understanding. He knew that I was thinking about filing for another adoption but that we weren’t filing together.” She laughs. “My publicist’s going to kill me; I’m already saying too much.” She laughs again, and after a moment, another wave of tears arrives.

It’s tough being a Hollywood A-Lister ain’t it? Don’t be shy of the odd visit Charlize, you’re always welcome around these here parts.

[source:wsj]

[imagesources:popsugar&extratv]