Charlize Theron revealed that her 7-year-old child Jackson is transgender.
“Yes, I thought she was a boy, too,” Theron told The Daily Mail, “Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said: ‘I am not a boy!'”
“So there you go! I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive,” the “Long Shot” star shared. “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.”
Theron dressed Jackson in female clothes from there on out, embracing her child for who she is.
“My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be,” she continued, “and I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that.”
The Oscar-winning actress, 43, credited her mother for raising her in a way to believe that everyone should live their truths.
“You know, I grew up in [South Africa] where people lived with half-truths and lies and whispers and nobody said anything outright, and I was raised very specifically not to be like that,” Theron explained. “I was taught by my mom that you have to speak up; you have to be able to know that, when this life is over, you’ll have lived the truth you’re comfortable with, and that nothing negative can come from that.”
Theron adopted Jackson in 2012 and daughter August three years later. She always knew adoption would be an important part of her life after witnessing the orphanages in South Africa.
“Even when I was in relationships, I was always honest with my partners, that adoption was how my family would look one day,” she previously told People. “This was definitely not a second option for me. It was always my first.”