Charlize Theron Recalls Daughter Jackson Feeling ‘Hurt’ by Being Called the ‘Wrong Pronouns’

Charlize Theron is mom to two kids, Jackson, 7, and August, 3, and the Oscar winner opened up about her older child in a new interview with Pride Source, explaining that she wanted the world to know which pronouns to use for Jackson — something she herself was still learning.

“My daughter’s story is really her story, and one day, if she chooses, she’ll tell her story,” she said. “I feel like as her mother, for me, it was important to let the world know that I would appreciate it if they would use the right pronouns for her.”

Theron adopted both of her daughters from Africa and has revealed that she learned Jackson was transgender around four years ago.

“I think it became harder for us the older she got that people were still writing about her in the wrong pronouns, and also I was still talking about her in the press using the wrong pronoun,” Theron explained. “It really hurt her feelings. I don’t want to be that mom, and that was really why I said what I said a while back.”

Theron first confirmed that Jackson was transgender while speaking to the Daily Mail in April.

“Yes, I thought she was a boy, too,” she said. “Until she looked at me when she was 3 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,” Theron continued. “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 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 said. “And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that.”

Theron added to Pride Source that Jackson’s story is hers alone to share, should she decide to do so.

“I haven’t really talked about it ever since, again, because outside of just asking that respectfully of the press – and the world, hopefully – the rest is really private and it’s her story, and it’s really up to her to decide if she wants to share that,” she said.

Photo Credit: Getty / Axelle/Bauer-Griffin