The March issue of Vanity Fair was a whimsical look at the biggest stars in Tinsel Town, featuring none other than badass single mom Charlize Theron. The iconic twenty-seventh edition of the Hollywood Issue also features cover stars Spike Lee, Michael B. Jordan, Maya Rudolph, Awkwafina, Sacha Baron Cohen, Zendaya, Dan Levy, Michaela Coel, and LaKeith Stanfield. They’ve each made their mark on the industry, and in 2021 they’re only more unstoppable.
The South African mother-of-two was raised by a single mom and has prioritized daughters August and Jackson since their adoptions. If you think you’re the only parent struggling to stay afloat during the lockdown, you aren’t alone. When asked how her life has changed since 2020, the powerhouse responds, “This year has definitely amped up my angst, my anger. I think it just, like, heightened all of those human feelings.”
The Old Guard star opens up about loving RuPaul’s Drag Race, how the pandemic helped her deal with her fame, and why homeschooling sucks more for parents than for kids. Read more of her Vanity Fair interview with Cassie da Costa here.
On not being prepared for homeschooling her children.
No, God, nothing prepares you. I know this for fact because I have had many boozy Zooms with other moms. Nothing prepares you for this. It’s also the first time in my life that I really had to confront how shitty and how terrible I am at something, like true failure. I’m a horrible teacher, a horrible teacher. I’ve had to really sit in that uncomfortableness and acknowledge that and just be with it because I don’t have any other choice right now.
On how she and her children dealt with the pandemic blues.
I watch a lot of cooking shows with my kids, a lot of Nailed It! and The Great British Baking Show. Those are so comforting because it’s just full inspiration for what we can bake and eat. After a while, there’s only so much you can watch with young kids before your brain explodes. So, that was really a lovely thing. And then we went on a binge of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I will always think of that show as our family corona show that I had to prewatch every episode and figure out which ones were appropriate and which ones weren’t. But, that was a fun family thing for us too, that just puts a smile on my face.
On how her thoughts on fame changed during COVID-19.
Listen, I’ve got a five-year-old and a soon-to-be nine-year-old that I’ve been homeschooling. I will say that, in general for me, I have never been comfortable with fame. That’s probably the one thing that I really don’t like about my job. When I became interested in movies and acting, I was living on a farm community in South Africa, where there were no materials, there was no reading about celebrities. I loved Tom Hanks movies and Goldie Hawn movies. But, I didn’t know who they were or what their names were.
I think that has always been weird for me, coming into [Hollywood]. When I started almost being famous, being followed, it was a bad thing…. I honestly went through periods, when my kids were a lot younger, where that really did bother me. I think I was aggressive about it. And then I worked my way to a place where I just didn’t think about it so much and didn’t have it consume me—the worry or the hatred of people following you or following your kids. And so, I had to do some work on that because it’s definitely not something that I like. I still wish that I could just…I know this is not how it works. I get it. I’m not an idiot. But, I still wish I could go and do my job, and not have to be fodder for tabloids or have my family members see that. So, this year has been…I miss my friends, and I do miss to travel. But outside of that, not having to do things or be seen, it’s been very refreshing.
Love Charlize’s look? The star wore a coat by Richard Quinn, shorts and top by Pyer Moss for Reebok with TITLE boxing gloves. Her cover look is Dior and was photographed and animated by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. Want more Charlize? Read her full interview at Vanity Fair.
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