Charlize Theron Blasts Sexist Attitude To Ageing As She Poses For GQ Magazine

Despite being 40 last August, Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron is looking as stunning as ever. But even she admits falling prey to society’s ageist approach to women’s beauty.

Speaking to the May issue of the British edition of GQ Magazine, the South African star talks about her fight to be taken seriously in the notoriously ageist and sexist world of Hollywood.

She said: ‘We live in a society where women wilt and men age like fine wine. And, for a long time, women accepted it. We were waiting for society to change, but now we’re taking leadership.

‘It would be a lie to say there is less worry for women as they get older than there is for men… It feels there’s this unrealistic standard of what a woman is supposed to look like when she’s over 40.’

Charlize originally started out as a model before turning to acting and admitted it was quite a fight to avoid being typecast as the pretty female love interest.

She explained: ‘Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them and that’s the end of the story. How many roles are out there for the gorgeous, f***ing, gown-wearing eight-foot model?

‘When meaty roles come through, I’ve been in the room and pretty people get turned away first.’

 

Charlize has spent most of her life in the United States after leaving her home country of South Africa as a teen model.

However, she admits that some of her fellow country people have made the wrong assumption she’s not proud of her homeland.

She lamented: ‘I love my country. And it’s very hard for South Africans to believe that, because I left and speak in an American accent. I have a very, very strong connection to my country and to its people.

‘It’s the mother that might have abandoned me, in a weird way, but not all the way. I’m not having a pity party, but I’m constantly trying to win its love back.’