Charlize Theron: I'm not ashamed to talk about my mother killing my father

Charlize Theron has opened up about the night her mother killed her alcoholic father – declaring she is “not ashamed” to discuss the domestic violence she suffered first hand.

The Oscar-winning actress’s mother Gerda shot her father Charles in June 1991 in self-defence after he threatened both her and the then-teenage Charlize.

Theron, 44, told npr.org: “My father was a very sick man. My father was an alcoholic all my life... It was a pretty hopeless situation. Our family was just kind of stuck in it.

“And all of it, I think, scarred us in a way. Of course, I wish what happened that night would have never happened. It's unfortunately what happens when you don't get to the root of these issues.

The actress went on to describe the night her father came into the family home “with a gun” while he was “so drunk that he shouldn't have been able to walk.”

Barricaded into her bedroom with her mother, they both leaned against the door trying to halt his progress. He unloaded his weapon into the door, but neither were struck by the blasts.

Theron’s mother retrieved her own handgun and shot her father. Her actions were deemed self-defence and she never faced any charges.

She added: “This family violence, this kind of violence that happens within the family, is something that I share with a lot of people. I'm not ashamed to talk about it, because I do think that the more we talk about these things, the more we realise we are not alone in any of it.”

Read more: Theron lands on Hollywood highest-paid list

The mother-of-two is currently starring as Megyn Kelly in Bombshell, about several women who came forward to accuse Roger Ailes, the longtime chairman of Fox News, of sexual harassment.