Charlize Theron Doesn’t Want Anyone To Go Through The ‘Belittling’ Experience That She Had With A Male Director

Early in her career, Charlize Theron had a “belittling” experience when a male director tried to make her look more “f*ckable” on the set of a movie. The revelation came in a Harper’s Bazaar cover story where the Mad Max: Fury Road star was discussing the powerlessness that many women in Hollywood feel, especially in the pre-#MeToo era.

“Having absolutely no control over what you’re wearing is a big one that really f*cking annoyed me for years. Having some guy make you have a fitting almost in front of them—stuff like that, it’s really belittling,” Theron said. “When I started, there was no conversation around it. It was like, ‘This is what you’re wearing.’ And I remember one movie in particular, this male director who just kept bringing me in, fitting after fitting after fitting after… It was just so obvious that it was to do with my sexuality and how f*ckable they could make me in the movie. And when I started out, that was kind of the norm.”

Theron made her on-screen debut in an uncredited role in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, but she doesn’t name the director or the “one movie in particular.” Nearly 30 years later, though, things have improved, and Theron has made it her mission to “create environments that feel like the things that I wish I had 30 years ago when I started.”

Theron will appear soon in Fast X and The Old Guard 2.