Rob Latour/ShutterstockCharlize Theron wanted the world to use the right pronouns for her daughter.
Back in April, the Bombshell star opened up about her kids in an interview with The Daily Mail. In her chat with the outlet, Theron explained that Jackson, 7, had told her four years earlier, "I am not a boy!"
"Yes, I thought she was a boy, too," the actress shared with the outlet. "Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said: 'I am not a boy!'"
"So there you go!" Theron continued. "I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive."
Now, Theron, who has been a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ community for many years, is explaining why she decided to speak out about her daughter's journey. In an interview with Pride Source, Theron was asked if "having a daughter who happens to be transgender influences your decisions when it comes to taking on the LGBTQ characters you do or, for that matter, don't."
In response, Theron shared, "Well, this is all pretty new for us, so it hasn't really kind of come into question. I don't really necessarily know if it will."
"My daughter's story is really her story, and one day, if she chooses, she'll tell her story," Theron continued. "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."
"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," the 44-year-old star told the publication. "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 went on to say that she really hasn't "talked about it ever since" because "the rest is really private and it's her story," adding that it's up to Jackson to decide if she wants to share her story.
Theron also discussed her own "period of sexual exploration" when she was younger, explaining that her mom was very open with her and that made her feel comfortable to confide in her about her sexuality.
"My mom always said, 'Figure it out. I don't want you to be me. Go figure out what it is for you,'" Theron recalled. "And I think it was because of that I got to share those things with her; when I did go on those explorations I had this person that I could share it with, that I felt safe with, who wasn't going to judge me or label me. But it turns out – ahh! – that I am straight. It's a little bit of a bummer."
When asked if she's had that same conversation with her children, Jackson and August, 4, Theron told Pride Source, "They're a little too young, but we definitely have these conversations whenever they say, 'I'm gonna get married' and I'm always like, 'What is it gonna be? A boy or a girl? What is it gonna be?' I love that my kids just know that that's a normal question to ask."
"One of my daughters (4-year-old August) is convinced that she's gonna be married five times and it's gonna be three boys and two girls, and I just love that she has the freedom to think that way," Theron said. "God knows what it's going to be, but I love that she feels safe enough to explore in her little-girl brain that anything is possible and that she's gonna go and discover that for herself."
To read more from Theron's interview, head on over to Pride Source.