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Charlize Theron<\/a> opens up about the abuse she and her mother faced from her father while growing up in South Africa, which resulted in her mother murdering her father in self-defense. \u201cIt\u2019s so strange \u2014 all the memories are there. And it\u2019s not that I don\u2019t try and think about it, but going in such a linear manner, it becomes almost more clear when you talk about it this way,\u201d she recalled on growing up with an abusive parent to the New York Times<\/a>. \u201cBecause people tend to just isolate it and want to talk about one thing. But it helps to explain that these things build, and they build, and it takes years for things to go as wrong as it did in my house.\u201d She describes the day it happened: her father was drinking at his brother\u2019s house and felt insulted when Theron didn\u2019t greet him as she ran to the bathroom. He eventually returned home, extremely angry. She added, \u201cHe shot through the steel doors to get in, making it very clear that he was going to kill us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe walked to the safe, and my mom pulled the door open while the brother was still standing there,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe brother ran down the hallway, and she shot one bullet down the hallway that ricocheted seven times and shot him in the hand. It\u2019s stuff you can\u2019t explain. And then she followed my father, who was by then opening the safe to get more weapons out, and she shot him.\u201d Theron felt a lot of \u201cshame\u201d because everyone in their community knew her father was an alcoholic, and kids would taunt her at school. But they didn\u2019t know the full story of what happened. \u201cSo for the first couple of years, for as long as I could, I told this story that he died in a car accident. I couldn\u2019t tell it to my school friends, but by the time I left South Africa, that\u2019s the story I told. Because I just didn\u2019t want pity. It made me so uncomfortable,\u201d she added. Theron eventually moved to Italy at 16 to begin her modeling career, but felt guilty leaving her mother behind. She said, \u201cIt was amazing because it was escape. The only thing that was hard for me was leaving my mom behind. But she was the one that said: \u2018Go and make a life for yourself. There\u2019s nothing for you here right now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for the Vulture Daily<\/p>\n An entertainment newsletter for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n