5 Reasons We LOVE Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron is some woman for one woman. Talented, smart and strong, she brings an elegance and intelligence to Hollywood and never fails to impress, whether she’s on-screen or on the red carpet. To celebrate her success as the awesome Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, we reveal our top five reasons we have a MAJOR girl crush…

1. She’s a kick-ass, ass-kicking actress

Whether she has to shave her head and wear engine oil for make-up in Mad Max: Fury Road, or shave her eyebrows and gain 30lbs for Monster, Charlize Theron isn’t afraid to look less ‘pretty’ on screen. In fact, she wholeheartedly embraces it.

And man, can the woman act. She won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Critics’ Choice and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role as Aileen Wuronos in Monster, and critics are saying to completely steals the show in Mad Max.

Her response to the claims it’s a feminist movie? “I think when we say ‘feminism’ people get a little freaked out because it’s like we’re being put on a pedestal,” she said during the promo for the film at the Cannes Film Festival. “But George (the director) has this inate understanding that woman are just as interesting and complex as men and he was interested to discover that. So it was by accident the movie became a feminist one. Through his need and want for the truth he made an incredible feminist movie.” Awesome.

2. She’s a proper movie ‘star’

Up-and-coming actresses take note: this is how you work the red carpet. Take one long (mostly structrued, always figure-hugging) gown, a few simple but stunning accessories and a handful of elegant poses, and you’ve got all the makings of a glamorous Hollywood movie star. Like, proper old-school glam. See? You don’t need to flash a bum cheek to make an impact.

3. She’s making a difference

The founder of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Programme, which is committed to creating a safter and healthier life for impoverished children in South Africa, and the UN Messenger of Peace, tasked with promoting efforts to end violence gain women, Charlize uses her fame to raise awareness for causes that are very close to her heart.

4. She’s feisty

She might have been promised a fashionable life as a model in the early ’90s, but she decided to leave the business because she no longer wanted to be treated like “somebody beautiful who should not say a word.” Instead, her mum bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles to make it as an actress. She was discovered by an agent while fighting with a bank manager on Hollywood Boulevard. Theron got into an argument after the manager refused to cash her cheque. The outburst caught the agent’s attention, who was standing behind her, and eight months later, she got her first acting job.

5. She believes in love

While we may never get over the fact she’s no longer with Stuart Townsend – they did make one helluva beautiful couple – we’re in awe of how truly, madly, deeply in love she is with Sean Penn. And he with her. Penn was quick to correct a journalist who recently referred to Theron as his “girlfriend”. He told French newspapeer Le Parisien: “No, no, excuse me. Charlize is not my girlfriend. She’s the love of my life…” Le sigh.

Charlize and Stuart were together for nine years before they split in 2010. We’ve still not fully recoved from the break-up.

Sean and Charlize have been friends for over 20 years.

She said their relationship took her by surprise. She opened up in the May issue of Esquire, revealing: “He was married, I was in a long-term relationship, our spouses – not regularly, but we were in each other’s lives. I think our friendship stemmed from mutual respect – more on my end … I’m a very, very, very lucky girl. Very lucky. He’s hot.”