Charlize Theron landed on the August issue of Elle UK. The actress stars in “Hancock” with Will Smith and Justin Bateman.
In the article, she talks about body image, babies her rise to stardom and her man Stuart Townsend. Here are highlights of the article:
On moving to Hollywood: “I left home on my own. It was hard but I had been taught not to feel sorry for myself and to do things on my own. Even at school if me and some friends were in trouble, I would be the only child sitting in the head’s office without a parent. From a young age my mum taught me to look out for myself and deal with my own consequences. She had to give me armor.”
On what attracted her to boyfriend Stuart: “The most amazing thing about Stuart is he got through to me on a level that no one else did. In my life there have been two people who formed me. My mother made me strong and wanted me to be invincible. Stuart made me softer. He was one of the few guys who wasn’t afraid of me. What he saw was not toughness but vulnerability. I am massively vulnerable, and for so long I just worked hard to cover that up. Stuart wasn’t scared to confront that. He is the one man who never worries about kicking me up the backside. It’s a good thing.”
On how their relationship began: “At first neither of us would admit to being a couple, but fate kept conspiring to put us together. He left Los Angeles and within a matter of days I had a shoot for ELLE in Paris. We met up afterwards in Dublin. Then he had more work booked in LA. I went out again to his flat in Ireland. It was just a couple of weeks into the relationship but I knew I was falling in love. We had a bottle of wine and just talked and talked. I stood up and said, ‘Let’s pack up your stuff and ship everything to LA.’ We spent all night packing and that was it.”
On love: “I know I have been in love before, but I’ve never been with anyone who was a whole part of me and who was a friend as well as a lover. When Stuart couldn’t get the work he wanted he wrote a screenplay. I read it and was just amazed. He can inspire me and he’s also the sexiest man ever. When I’m going to see him I get all fluttery in my tummy. No matter how much I love working on a movie, the best bit always is when I get to go back home to my sexy Irish guy.”
On her looks: “I don’t have hang-ups about the way I look. I can see myself in the mirror when I’m all done up and think I look pretty hot, but I can see myself every day and see this round Dutch doll face. We’ve got so crazy about our faces and our bodies. I guard my privacy partly because I like to keep my head free from all that paranoia. I’m not super-skinny. I have curves and they belong on my body.”
On fashion: “As for fashion, I couldn’t ever be a slave. I don’t do scruffy because I can’t do it. It doesn’t suit me. I like clean, classic looks. Just because skinny jeans are in fashion you don’t wear them if they suck on you.”
On having children: “I’d be delighted if I found out I was pregnant tomorrow. But I’d also be delighted if nothing happened for a couple of years. I know I’m going to be a mother. And Stuart will be our baby’s father. That is something I’m sure of.”
On finding happiness: “It’s been a deliberate thing. I needed happiness to resolve my past. Every move I have made in life has been towards making me and my mother happy. Things happen in life and you can choose for them to destroy you. You can choose to be sad. You can choose to be happy. You just have to be determined about it.”
On Hollywood’s obsession with weight: “I don’t have hang-ups about the way I look. I can see myself in the mirror when I’m all done up and think I look pretty hot, but I can see myself every day and see this round Dutch doll face. We’ve got so crazy about our faces and our bodies. I guard my privacy partly because I like to keep my head free from all that paranoia. I’m not super-skinny. I have curves and they belong on my body. I put on two stone for Monster but I also lost two stone when I played a woman with cancer in Sweet November [alongside Keanu Reeves].”