“She Looked at Me and Said, ’I’m Not a Boy,’” Charlize Theron Reveals Her Child Is Transgender

Charlize’s eldest child, Jackson, was adopted as an infant boy. However, there have been persistent rumors for some time that Charlize may actually be raising Jackson as a girl. Some paparazzi photos appeared where Jackson was wearing dresses and skirts and had long braids. And now, Charlize has revealed that her kid doesn’t feel like a boy.

Raising an adopted child is no different.

In 2012, Theron adopted Jackson, and in 2015, her second daughter, August. The star says, “Adoption is a very personal thing, I know people who don’t feel that they could raise another child as their own. But I never saw a difference in raising an adopted child versus my own biological child. This was always my first choice, even when I was in a relationship.”

Charlize was caught off guard at first.

At first, the actress didn’t expect that Jackson really wanted to be a girl, “Yes, I thought she was a boy too. Until she looked at me when she was 3 years old and said, ’I am not a boy!’ Both of them get to find who they want to be, and it’s not for me to decide. My job as a parent is to love them and to make sure they have everything they need to be what they want to be.”

She fully accepts her daughter’s decision.

Theron highlighted the importance of using the appropriate pronouns when referring to her child and asked people to be respectful.

She explains, “My daughter’s story is her story, and one day, if she chooses, she’ll tell her story. I feel like it was important to let the world know that I’d appreciate it if they’d use the right pronouns for her. It became harder the older she got that people were still writing about her in the wrong pronouns. I was still talking about her in the press using the wrong pronoun. It really hurt her feelings. I don’t want to be that mom.”

She’s a single mom of 2 proud daughters.

Theron is raising “2 beautiful, proud, black African girls” as a single parent. She revealed that she’s “shockingly single” after having been in relationships with Sean Penn and Stuart Townsend. However, Charlize later mentioned that she wasn’t desperate to date.

The star supports the LGBTQIA+ community.

Charlize is appreciated in the LGBTQIA+ community and has often shown support for gay men and lesbians throughout her professional life. She’s primarily focused on supporting marriage equality.

During an appearance on The View, she said that she wouldn’t marry her then-partner, Stuart Townsend, until marriage rights were equal for everyone in the United States. Theron explained that she wouldn’t feel comfortable getting married as many of her LGBTQIA+ friends longed to be able to marry legally.

Check out some more articles about celebrities in the LGBTQIA+ community:

• 12 Celebrities We Didn’t Know Were Raised by LGBTQ Parents
• 7 Celebrities Who Have Defied Stereotypes By Openly Discussing Their Sexuality