20 Things You Didn't Know About Charlize Theron

20. Her Childhood Was A Nightmare

Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975 in Benoni, a small city in the greater Johannesburg area of South Africa. Already, this could not have been an easy environment to live in; born into a country in the midst of apartheid.

But it didn't help matters that her father's constitution, Charles Theron, could not metabolize ethanol (read: he was a terrible alcoholic). When she was 15, Charles attacked both her and her mother Gerda on the family farm, going as far as firing a gun at both of them. Gerda retrieved a handgun and shot him to death in self-defense.

The shooting was declared legal, and her mother was not charged. A year later, both picked up and left town