Charlize Theron says she's "not ashamed" to talk about her mother killing her "alcoholic" father in a self-defence act.
The actress was 15 when her father entered the house with a gun while drunk, and shot through a bedroom door where she and her mum were hiding.
She said they were both leaning against the door from the inside so he couldn't push through.
"He took a step back and just shot through the door three times. None of those bullets ever hit us, which is just a miracle. But in self-defence, she ended the threat," she told NPR.
Theron grew up on a farm in South Africa with her parents, and said her father was "a very sick man" who was an alcoholic all her life.
"The day-to-day unpredictability of living with an addict is the thing that you sit with and have kind of embedded in your body for the rest of your life."
She said she wished that night never happened, but it's "unfortunately what happens when you don't get to the root of these issues".
Theron said the violence she experienced is something she shares with a lot of people because she's "not ashamed" and it helps others realise they aren't alone.
"For me, it's just always been that this story really is about growing up with addicts and what that does to a person," she said.
Also in her NPR interview, she spoke about the time as a young actress when she was invited to a director's house for an audition and he leaned over and touched her leg - something she calls the "grey area" of sexual harassment.
It's a subject she said her latest film Bombshell explores, which follows the women of Fox News who came forward and accused then-CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.
Theron plays former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who wrote about Ailes' unwanted sexual advances in her 2016 book Settle for More.
Where to find help and support:
- Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
- Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
