Los Angeles, April 20 (AHN) Hollywood actress Charlize Theron has opened up about her traumatic experience owing to her father’s drinking habits.

The actress has shared that she was left terrified by drunks amid her abusive father’s alcoholism, reports ‘Female First UK’.

The actress made the admission as she spoke about her childhood in South Africa, describing an upbringing marked by alcohol abuse and tension within her family home.

As per ‘Female First UK’, Charlize, 50, reflected on her early life, detailing experiences growing up with her father, Charles Theron, and her mother, Gerda Jacoba Aletta Martiz, who ended up shooting her dad dead in self-defence. The actress said her father struggled with alcohol and that the atmosphere in their home was often shaped by his behaviour.

She was 15 when her mother fatally shot her father in 1991 in what was later ruled self-defence. Charlize, who later left South Africa at 16 to pursue modelling in Europe, said her upbringing influenced her independence and outlook.

She shared, “I have memories from when I was really young, seeing really drunk people, and it scared me. Like, people crawling on the floor drunk. That became so consistent that it was every Friday, Saturday, maybe even every Wednesday”.

Opening up about how her dad was a “full-blown functioning drunk”.

She told ‘The New York Times’, “My dad had built this big bar inside the house. He had moments where he would go missing, we wouldn’t know where he was and he would usually return in a state that was pretty severe. It would get messy and loud, and my mom’s not a wallflower either. She wasn’t just sitting and taking it. She made it known that she wasn’t happy about his lifestyle. So, it really caused a lot of verbal abuse”.

Charlize also spoke about the impact of the environment on her as a child, as she said, “Personally, for me, the worst thing was (when my mother and father) would ice each other. There would be a big fight, and then they wouldn’t talk for three weeks. I didn’t have siblings, and that house just went silent”.

She clarified her father had not been physically violent towards her, but described his behaviour as intimidating.