Body blues
Charlize’s depression confession
When she first set about gaining 16kg for her latest film role, Charlize Theron felt “like a kid in a candy store” as she gorged on fast food and milkshakes for breakfast, and woke in the middle of the night to feast on macaroni and cheese.
But after just three weeks, the extra weight began to affect her mental health. “It hit me hard,” confesses the South African stunner, 42. “It really messed with my head. I had depression for the first time in my life shooting this film. It was brutal in every sense. I called my doctor and said, ‘I feel as if I’m dying!’”
Charlize famously gained 13kg for her Oscar-winning turn as serial killer Aileen
Wuornos in the 2003 movie
Monster, but being 15 years older made a huge difference to how her body handled the weight. She says, “The way your face changes. Your hands, fingers, shoe size ... My feet got so fat, I was living in Uggs.”
This time, it was also harder to lose the kilos. Charlize tells, “I filmed Monster when I was 27, then I just stopped snacking for three weeks and was back to my normal weight.”
Luckily, after filming wrapped on her upcoming drama Tully, the beauty spent a lot of time running after her two adopted kids, son Jackson, six, and daughter August, three, who helped whip her back into shape, albeit more slowly.
While Charlize’s life once revolved around red carpets, her pick of film roles and travelling to far-flung corners of the world, she has now swapped the glamour and globe-trotting for nappies, tantrums and sleepless nights.
She laughs, “Life’s changed completely, but I’m so happy to spend my time with my kids. Every day, I wake up thinking about how to make them happy. There’s not a day when I wish I hadn’t done this.”
Solo struggle
However, Charlize is the first to admit that life as a working single mum is no tip-toe through the tulips. She reveals, “Mornings are crazy right now because my oldest takes the bus to school, so every morning at 5.45am, the alarm goes off and I want to hang myself. But there’s no time for that – sometimes I don’t even get time to brush my teeth as I’m getting them ready, trying to get breakfast and fill the lunchbox.”
It’s a scene that could come straight from her movie Tully, which sees Charlize playing an overwhelmed mother who discovers a new circle of hell when she and her ineffectual partner welcome a third child.
Funnily enough, the actress isn’t looking to add to her brood, saying, “I know families that are bigger than mine and it totally works for them, but I am for sure finished. Patience is a virtue that’s come to me in spades since being a mum, but it’s hard – I lose it all the time.”
Fortunately, Charlize has some heavy-duty help in the form of her mother Gerda and a circle of close friends.
She tells, “I call them my village. There are days when they just show up at my door and I say, ‘I just need you to take them off my hands for two hours.’ I don’t think you can be a great mother without people in your life who know you need those breaks.”
After ending her romance with Sean Penn, 57, almost
three years ago, Charlize has been linked to a number of men, including Halle Berry’s model ex Gabriel Aubry, 41, but she insists that she has zero interest in dating right now.
“Sometimes my friends will try to set me up and I’ll say, ‘Right now that feels more like work than something I would really enjoy.’ I’ll I ll have to change that mindset before I start dating again.”