In a shocking confession, Charlize Theron spoke about the night that changed her life, when her mother shot and killed her husband (Charlize's father) in self-defense.

In an interview with The New York Times, the actress recounted the traumatic event in 1991, when she was just 15 years old. As she described it, she and her mother had visited her uncle’s house after a movie, and her father was furious because she didn’t announce her arrival, but immediately ran into the bathroom. “I had to go to the bathroom,” she explained. “So I ran into the house to get there on time, and he took it as disrespectful because I didn’t stop to say hello to everyone.”

Theron added: "In South Africa, respect for elders is very important. And he was in a state where he just got out of control. It was like, 'Why didn't you stop? Who do you think you are?'"

The actress recalled leaving and asking her mother to help her avoid a later confrontation with her father. “I knew he was angry with me. So I said, ‘When he finally decides to come home, please tell him I’m sleeping,’” she said.

“I went to my room, turned off the lights, and I was scared. My window looked out onto the street, and I could tell the level of anger, frustration, or sadness from the way he drove when he came,” she said. Then she added: “I just knew something bad was going to happen.”

Charlize Theron later recalled her father "broke into the house," shooting "through the metal doors to get in, clearly intending to kill them," and described the moment her mother ran to the safe to get her gun before returning to her daughter's room. "We were holding the door down with our bodies because there was no lock," she said.

"He just took a step back and started shooting through the door," she continued, adding that it was "unbelievable" that "not a single bullet hit them."

"The message was very clear: 'I'm going to kill you tonight. You think I can't come in through this door? Look at me. I'm going to the safe, I'm going to get the gun,'" the actress emphasized.

She also recalled that both her father and her uncle, who was reportedly accompanying him, were shot. “He was walking towards the safe and my mother opened the door while his brother was still standing there,” she said.

Theron confessed: "My uncle ran down the hall and she fired a bullet in that direction, which ricocheted seven times and hit him in the arm. These are things you can't explain. Then she followed my father, who was at that moment opening the safe to get more guns, and shot him."

The actress admitted that for years she felt like she was "the only people" who had experienced something like this, emphasizing how important it is to talk openly about these experiences so that others don't feel alone.

Today, she says the past no longer haunts her and admits that her mother chose a way to cope by moving forward. "The next morning she sent me to school normally. It was like saying 'let's move on,'" she said.

The actress has previously spoken about this trauma, as well as violence against women, emphasizing that it is a permanent and global problem.