48-year-old South African Oscar-winning actress, Charlize Theron, recently opened up about raising her two adopted daughters to be accepting, in a world where “our words can so easily be weaponised against us.”
Theron’s journey with motherhood first began in 2012, when she adopted her first daughter, Jackson, now 11. Three years later in 2015, the actress adopted her second child, August, now 7.
Theron’s decision to adopt, as per People Magazine, had always been a priority inspired by her own South African upbringing.
As a little girl, Theron was exposed to orphanages and children who were in need in her community. From then onwards, the Mad Max actress knew that she wanted to adopt.
Quoted in a conversation with People Magazine in 2018, Theron said:
“Even when I was in relationships, I was always honest with my partners, that adoption was how my family would look one day…This was definitely not a second option for me. It was always my first.”
Recently, the Atomic Blonde actress appeared as a guest on Netflix’s RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked. The episode, themed around ‘acceptance’, struck a chord with the actress, who says that she aims to instil good values in her children, teaching them the importance of acceptance. She said:
“I want [my kids] to grow up in a world where they know what it means to accept what’s not you, what is different and love that, to not be scared of that, and to embrace it, and that’s my job as a mom.”
Continuing:
“I feel like we’re living in a day and age where our words can so easily be weaponised against us….I worry about us as people and what we can do to each other, and how powerful it is when you love and how powerful it is when you hate. One destroys and one builds.”
Theron has previously been open about her role as a mother to two daughters of colour. In an interview with Elle in 2018, the actress said that growing up in South Africa’s apartheid era made her “hyperaware” of issues surrounding equality and human rights. She said:
“I want [my kids] to know who they are, and I want them to be so f—ing proud of who they are,”
Continuing:
“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.”
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Feature Image: Instagram / @charlizetheron
