Charlize Theron has never been one to shy away from her struggle to find a boyfriend as one of Hollywood’s biggest names, once proclaiming “somebody just needs to grow a pair and step up.” So when her young daughters recently told her to “find a boyfriend”, she taught them a valuable life lesson instead.
Appearing on Diane von Furstenburg’s new In Charge podcast, the actress said that her 5-year-old daughter August told her “you need a boyfriend.”
“I said, ‘Actually, I don’t. Right now, I feel really good,’ and she’s like, ‘But, you know what, Mum? … You need a boyfriend, you need a relationship,'” Theron said when recalling the interaction. “And I was like, ‘I am in a relationship. I’m in a relationship with myself right now.'”
Theron admitted it was important to teach her children that women don’t “need” a relationship, going on to explain that August had this look in her eye “like she had never really contemplated that that was even a possibility and I said, ‘That is a really important thing for you guys to know.'”
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The Bombshell actress went on to say that raising the next generation of women means it’s a responsibility to break down societal norms.
“We are raising a generation of young girls who realise that there is absolutely no shame in that game to be in relationship with yourself— to not fall into what society kind of predicts for us as what is socially acceptable: If you are not in a relationship, somehow you’re a failure,” she said. “Those are all constructs that we need to change. I remember two days ago just looking back in the rearview mirror and seeing my little 5-year-old’s face; her mind was blown. But I know that that was the day that she realized there’s a different possibility.”
Theron adopted two Black daughters, August, 5, and Jackson, 8, which is why the actress recently told People she’s been making a proactive decision to support the Black Lives Matter movement and continues to have tough conversations about race.
“When they see protesters on the side of the road, they’ll say, ‘Mum, honk. Honk, Mum, honk,’ ” she told the publication. “There’s a real sense of pride.”
“I love being a mum,” she previously told marie claire Australia. “By the time I had kids, I was really ready. I’m in bed at 7:45 every night now, and I love it because I’ve lived. If I die tomorrow, I’m at peace with who I am in my life.”
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