Overview
- The New York Times Magazine interview published Saturday lays out Theron’s first-person account and her view that she is not haunted by it anymore.
- She says her father came home drunk, shot through steel doors to force entry, and fired through her bedroom door as she and her mother braced it with their bodies.
- Her mother retrieved a gun, a ricochet injured the uncle’s hand, and she then shot Theron’s father as he moved to a safe for more weapons, which investigators later ruled self-defense with no charges filed.
- Theron says speaking now helps others feel less alone and fits years of advocacy against gender-based violence, including work as a UN Messenger of Peace and the Together For Her campaign.
- She left South Africa the following year, and reports note steel doors were common in homes then due to widespread violence, underscoring the setting she describes.