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Charlize Theron Says Adopting Her 2 Daughters ‘Completely Reopened’ Her Eyes: It Was ‘Empowering’
When Charlize Theron thought about adopting children, she never imagined the “empowering” moment she would have when she became a mom. The Mad Max: Fury Road star opened up about the reason she chose adoption and how her two kids, Jackson and August, completely changed her life from the day she welcomed them into her family.
“The fact that I got to choose when I wanted to be a mom … there is a great power in choosing to be a mother,” the 44-year-old beauty shared in a new episode of the “InCharge with DVF” podcast with Diane von Furstenberg. “That whole process was incredibly empowering for me as a woman.”
Charlize adopted her eldest child, 8-year-old Jackson, in March 2012. Three years later, the Old Guard actress expanded her family when 5-year-old August came along in 2015. Since welcoming her beloved kiddos, Charlize said her journey through motherhood has been “really eye-opening” for her.
“My children have completely reopened my eyes to the world and I jokingly always say, ‘I’m back at [school],'” the Atomic Blonde star explained. “I’m back having to learn every single day because they challenge me in that way.”
Charlize said she’s especially learned a lot being the adoptive mom of Jackson and August. “My children kind of came to me in this unexpected way, where you know … I didn’t know I was going to be the mom to two African American girls,” she continued.
The Academy Award winner noted because she didn’t know she was “going to be the mom of an African American trans girl,” referring to Jackson, she’s had to adjust her parenting techniques along the way. “All of these things have kind of made me more aware of how little I know,” she added.
Even though she struggles with self-doubt sometimes, Charlize knows she was always destined to be a mom. In fact, the Golden Globe recipient revealed she’s had thoughts about adopting kids ever since she was a youngster herself.
“I’m an only child … I didn’t have any siblings and my mom has a letter that I wrote her when I was 8 years old,” Charlize explained to Diane, 73. “In the letter, I ask her if we could, for Christmas, go to an orphanage to adopt a brother or sister for me.”
The Bombshell star said her mom, Gerda Jacoba Aletta Maritz, “actually showed [her] the letter” at the time she went through her first adoption with Jackson. “She’s like, ‘You never asked me to have another baby. You never asked me to have a little brother or sister for you. You just immediately went to adoption,'” she recalled. “But I always knew that I wanted to be a mother, always.”
While Charlize doesn’t want her children hanging out in the spotlight, she’s always been open and honest about her role as a mom. During a previous interview with the Daily Mail in April 2019, the Monster actress explained why it is her duty to “celebrate” daughter Jackson after she came out as transgender.
“I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive,” the doting mom dished. “They were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide. My job as a parent is to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be.”
Charlize is amazing!
