Not ashamed to say my mother killed my alcoholic father: Charlize Theron

The 'Bombshell' actor also revealed how she was sexually harassed by a 'famous director'

In a recent turn of events, Charlize Theron revealed that she is "not ashamed" to talk about the moment her mother shot and killed her father in self-defense.

The actor unveiled how she was 15 when her alcoholic father shot through the door of the room where she was hiding with her mother. "None of those bullets ever hit us, which is just a miracle. But in self-defense, she ended the threat," she told NPR.

She added "The more we talk about these things, the more we realise we are not alone in any of it."

Charlize grew up on on a farm near Johannesburg in South Africa with her mother Gerda and father Charles. She said her father was a "very sick man" and said living with an alcoholic was a "pretty hopeless situation".

"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, more than just this one event of what happened one night," she said.

While elaborating on what exactly happened, she said her father was so drunk he "shouldn't have been able to walk when he came into the house with a gun".

"My mom and I were in my bedroom leaning against the door, because he was trying to push through the door. So both of us kept leaning to prevent him from pushing 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-defense, she ended the threat."

"The violence I've experienced within my family is something I share with a lot of people." added Theron. "I'm not ashamed to talk about it, because I do think that the more we talk about these things, the more we realise we are not alone in any of it. I think, for me, it's just always been that this story really is about growing up with addicts and what that does to a person."

The Oscar-winner also spoke about the time a film director inappropriately touched her after inviting her to audition at his home. "I was the one who apologised to him before leaving, It made me angry with myself," she added.

She then explained the struggle she went through at the moment, "I put a lot of blame on myself... that I didn't say all the right things, like telling him to take a hike. I didn't do all of those things that we so want to believe we'll do in those situations."

The subject of sexual harassment is one that she tackles in her latest film Bombshell - in which she plays a real TV presenter called Megyn Kelly. While representing the women who worked for the US broadcaster Fox News who had accused the then-CEO and chairman Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.

She said the film explores the "grey area of sexual harassment" and is something she's come across. "It's not always physical assault. It's not always rape," she says.

"There's a psychological damage that happens for women in the everyday casualness of language, touch or threat of losing your job. Those are things I've definitely encountered." She concluded.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.