Charlize Theron is a mother to two beautiful Black daughters named Jackson, 10, and August, 7, whom she adopted in 2012 and 2015. Theron is keen on keeping life private, so it comes as no surprise that she’s intentional when sharing photos of her family vacations, mother-daughter moments and birthday posts.
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The School For Good And Evil actress discussed her adoption process during an interview with NPR in 2019, revealing that her options were open and she had “cast a very wide net” when it came to the selection process.
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“I wanted to believe that somehow my child would find me in the way that we were just meant to be,” she said. “So I wasn’t specific with anything … In whatever country they would allow me as a single woman to adopt, that’s where I filed. And it just happened to be that both my children ended up being American. They were born in the United States and they both happened to be African American,” Theron said.
In an interview with ELLE, the actress said she wants her daughters to grow up seeing representation in the media of themselves and to be “proud” of who they are.
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“I want them to know who they are, and I want them to be so f**king proud of who they are,” she said. “Building confidence for them right now is an oath I made to myself when I brought them home. They need to know where they come from and be proud of that. But they’re going to have to know that it’s a different climate for them than it is for me, and how unfair that is. If I can do something about that, of course, I’m going to.”
According to an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Theron says Jackson and August are like any sisters close in age, playing with each other one minute and fussing with each other the next, leaving Theron’s hands full outside of her heavy acting schedule.
“The last time I was here, the little one was a year and a half, and the oldest was 5. I didn’t grow up with siblings so this is all new to me. Then, the older one would say, “Let’s do this,” and the little one would be like, “OK!,” Theron said. “It was a peaceful, beautiful, loving relationship that made me cry every single day.”
“Now I cry, but not because it’s peaceful and loving anymore. The 1-year-old is now almost 3, and she’s like, “No.” The older one is like, “What? What do you mean no? I said let’s do this!” It’s like a war in our house every single day,” she added.
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Jackson and August started homeschooling at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with their mom as their teacher, which the Atomic Blonde actress has found to be “incredibly stressful.”
According to PEOPLE, Theron has listed math as her defeat, calling herself a “terrible math teacher,” based on her daughter Jackson’s remarks.
“I [thought] I [was doing] a great job until my 8-year-old was like, Mom, I don’t think you’re very good at this. I don’t think you’re a good teacher,” Theron revealed. “I was like, Oh my God! Why? … and she goes, Because you’re not really explaining why this problem is solved,” she continued.
“That’s when I was like, no, because that’s just it — that’s just the answer,” she said. “And she’s like, ‘You’re not really telling me why.'” Theron then added, “I was like, I am telling you why, because this plus this minus this is this.”
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Theron’s little one, August, has a surprisingly new interest in martial arts, using it around the house on just about anybody — even Theron’s assistant.
She told Jimmy Fallon, “The little one learned technical martial arts, like full technical wrestling grips. I don’t know where she learned it … I came in the other day and she literally had my assistant in like, a back lock and a full grip and she wouldn’t let go,” she said.
Theron has also mentioned in a once-posted interview on E! that her girls are her hardest critics and inspiration when it comes to her roles on the big screen. Theron said she chose to be a part of the Netflix movie The School For Good and Evil because her girls necessarily haven’t seen her in a lot of child-friendly movies.
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“For me, there’s not a lot in my repertoire that’s like, anything that they’re going to appreciate anytime soon, not at least until they’re like 52,” she told E!. “I mean, it was a huge part of why I wanted to do it and they really loved the film. They’re here tonight. They’re gonna see it again.”
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“The only complaint is they’re like, ‘Did you have to be evil?’ Like, they wanted me in big princess gowns,” she said. “And I’m like, listen … I had to go and have a little fun. They’re like, Mom, can you just be the princess for once?,” she added.
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Theron has openly discussed the many lessons she’s passing on to her girls about relationships, equality, being Black women and education. Based on the conversations their mother has had about them, the two young ladies are ones to keep an eye out for. They’re sure to be like their mother — strong-willed, talented and witty.
