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Book chronicles glam star’s rise — and her dark past

CHARLIZE Theron has come a long way — from singing as a young girl in a Benoni mall to earn her pocket money to being an awarding-winning Hollywood star.

And her journey has been pieced together in a new book: Charlize: Life’s One Helluva Ride.

The book, written by South African author Chris Karsten, traces Theron’s rise to fame and includes interviews with estranged family members on her late father’s side.

Despite attempts to reach Theron for comment, Karsten says there was no feedback from the star or her managers. “I would love to have had some feedback from her on some questions, and there are some things I would have liked to verify with her,” Karsten told The Sunday Times.

The book documents Theron’s life chronologically and the movies she has starred in.

Karsten refers to the story as more of a tribute to her life than a biography.

But before the fame, there was farm life, school, her first kiss — with a boy named Nicky, who wore braces — and the tragic death of her father only a few months before she won her first modelling pageant.

For many years, she told the world he had died in a car accident.

It was only during a US TV interview in 2004 that Theron revealed the truth about her father’s death — that her mother, Gerda, had shot him in self- defence.

On the kiss, Theron said in an interview quoted in the book: “He had braces.

“We were in the backyard. Anyway, it was after we had just watched Friday the 13th. What a real romance movie!

“We were standing there arguing about [whether to kiss] for so long, [when it happened], it was just awful. But then it was darkness, saliva and tongue. I was 12 , I think, 12 or 13 .”

Karsten said he had managed to trace Theron ’s family back to Danie Theron, the nephew of a famous Boer hero of the Anglo-Boer War.

Her name is from her father Charles and grandmother Elizabeth . Theron was very close to her grandmother but, after her father’s death, Theron and her mother cut ties with that side of the family.

The book tells how, after her father’s death and only days before her 16th birthday, Theron started her career by winning a modelling competition.

Soon, she was modelling overseas. But Theron , who studied ballet at the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet School, in New York, was determined to act.

Karsten writes that it was while throwing a tantrum in a bank that she was first spotted by talent manager John Crosby.

The author attributes Charlize’s success to her father’s death and her mother’s support .

Source: The Times

In 2003 Charlize Theron, 33, won an Oscar for her role in the film Monster. A versatile actress, she has starred in films as diverse The Life and Death of Peter Sellers to The Italian Job. Her own life has also been packed with drama – aged 15 while living in South Africa she witnessed her mother shoot her father dead in self-defence against his domestic violence. She now lives with Irish actor and boyfriend, Stuart Townsend, in Los Angeles.

What were your dreams as a child?
I wanted to be a ballet dancer. Life was simple for me in South Africa – I believed I was going to live in the same house until the day I died and I only spoke Afrikaans. I still speak Afrikaans today with Mum. I started going to ballet classes at the age of four and I learned a little English from my ballet teacher who had worked at the Royal Academy in London. I had a very active imagination as a child and I loved putting on make-up, costumes and playing characters or telling a story. Unfortunately I suffered a knee injury when I was 18 living in New York and the dancing stopped. I had been a flamenco dancer, too, but all of a sudden I could no longer do the things that had been open to me most of my life. I used to go to the New York City ballet by myself and cry. I still carry sorrow about it.

Have you ever been in a hairy situation?
Yes. Everything changed for me the day my father died. Years ago I used to cover it all up and say he died in a car accident – it was a way of explaining his absence when I did not want to go into the reasons or the event itself. I have now come to terms with it and have been able to move on. Things had been really bad between my father and me. Life deals you some really nasty cards and you just have to play them. At the time I can remember thinking: ‘I want other cards than these,’ but I walked away from the experience knowing that I had a choice – I could either drown or start swimming. I refused to sulk and feel sorry for myself. When you witness something like that, no-one can give you advice or tell you what to do. No-one else knows how you feel or how you are going to react. My mother couldn’t give up, either. Neither of us allowed the other to give up and that is why we have such a close bond today.

Do you have enough time for yourself?
During the last two years I have been catching up on my life. I took a break to enjoy time with the people who matter – Stuart and my Mum. Stuart and I travelled a lot – to Greece, Turkey, Belize and Guatemala. We also went back to my homeland, South Africa, and to Stuart’s in Ireland. It gave me such a great feeling of joy to just throw on a backpack and live in a different culture for a month, staying in places which are not five-star hotels.

What are your views on marriage?
Stuart and I are married in our own eyes. We are not married by church and state and did not go to a service in the eyes of God. I did not wear a while dress, but so far as I am concerned we are married and I have a ring – an old Victorian emerald ring.

What do the voices in your head tell you?
I want to be in films which ask questions and deal with social issues. I never really go for glamour roles – I like roles which make you think about the character and their life, rather than what they look like.

What would surprise us about you?
The way I got into acting. I had moved to Los Angeles, but could not get an agent. My mother had sent a cheque to help pay my rent and I was trying to cash it in a bank on Hollywood Boulevard. A clerk refused and I just went nuts. After the shouting was over, a man who had been watching handed me his business card and told me to get in touch. I thought he was just another guy with bullshit, but he turned out to be a genuine talent manager and he introduced me to some casting agents.

Do you believe in god?
I think I am pagan at heart. My Mum always told me, even as a kid, to come to my own conclusion. So I started going to church, but then stopped. Someone from the church came to see my mother and said, ’We need to talk about Charlize’s non-attendance.’ I remember my mother pointing at me and saying, ’You can talk to her yourself – she’s here.’

What do you see when you look in the mirror?
If I complained about anything in my life right now, it would sound obnoxious. I am with a wonderful man, living a dream. My mum has remarried and she is happy. I have also made some terrific films. I cannot think of life being better.

Source: mailonsunday.co.uk

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