| Show t iteu ''‘ ' r - AfT A ' i !IA t' l it' ' i'' t : 4 ' ' '' I 1 t ' ''''- '''‘'' ' 1 ' ''' ' '‘ - '''- - ' - t to 1411‘ ‘ (' "1" k V1 it--- 3 ''' - ' ' 0 114A 4iloow 4 A i 'ill'611f111114 I' 4rit1 (two114 o tot 41011141 - Alio 4444 N 94 - ' — -- ' 4'" ' 4110N1411 irtgAwilltr-- ir 1 :'- 41 0 'Tzlo1Jo -- ' al ' i l'Al i to c 7 ' 1 - — e f' ' ' oi iNvisitio ' l' it I' f '''' I ' t (I I I - ni 1 04iltrTitet:4 gI — -- - career-makin- env -- e ' i 44:4'sr 1 t MOM AND I STILL LAUGH about how clueless we both were about Hollywood" said Charlize Theron "1 grew up in a society in rural South Africa that didn't have movie reviews or interna- tional magazines Neither of us even knew that Hollywood was in Los Angeles We've been chalharsh circumstances to get to this some in lenged pretty place But we're both survivors And I feel extremely blessed" Moments earlier in a hallway of Manhattan's Regency Hotel Theron had made a commotion as she called her in Los Angeles to blurt some news in their n mtivoethmrdercaansGerda At 28 Theron had just received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her harrowing performance serial killer Aileen Wuomos in the independent film as real-lif- e Monster TV news crews in the lobby were murmuring about "Oscar buzz" After nine years onscreen two dozen films and g a history of narrowly missing out on juicy parts Alabama roles Home in lead Sweet and Chita-go- ) both (including Charlize Theron is enjoying her greatest critical acclaim On this morning she cannot contain a big ceaseless grin Dressed in a cropped black sweater and micro-miteetering on black stilettos Theron looks every inch the former model of whom casting directors have complained "She's too pretty" She is far from pretty and nearly unrecognizable onscreen 1 in Monster Theron gained 30 pounds viciously distressed her hair and complexion and wore dental prostheses to effect i overbite Before filming she researched Wuomos' Wuomos' 1 sad brutal life—from childhood abuse to prostitution the murders of at least six "johns" and her 2002 execution in forida Variev called Theron's effort "a Monster career move" She prefers to call it part of a "long tough journey"—an ' AA t11 Ie LI uses "44P v:pressiort the ny Q0 : who once cleaned duck farm the of out droppings pond in Benoni South Africa arrive at today's breathless moment? "1 can't explain r 1 my journey without telling my mother's story" says this only child "We're too much of a team Whatever I decided to do in life I've had to struggle—but not with Y V - ' 4 tel tiP I iitton 1"1" t‘ 4 tp ' ' ' i :'' r 1 i 4 hi' Vglik ' N - I rlir : ' '': '' ' —1 n 4 itI:441-1140- - If ( 1- A: r :7----- k r ' '''' - - 11 IIMENEMEN L 111L s) I gh ) At 0 0 JL ' e )' e' l'rg "'4- - 7 ' 1 "" r ' - 11111MOMMONORIPP ql 41 '''‘ t Charlize at i ' i' -- (icy- ! - dID '' 1 1 tr 1 ''''IP''"14 10 with her Gerda who cooked for family and my mother She watched me grow up with the things she never had and she never resented me for it" Gerda came of age in a very different society Theron says—South Africa in the late '60s "My mom met my dad when she was very young and went thro18 the expected social event you become a couldn't just do that so r she got involved in my dad's construction business" Charlize named for her French born in August lived on a wife She road-mothe- family 11 - --- e) e ' ii and galleries COVER AND PORTRAIT ABOVE BY ROBERT ASCROFT FOR PARADE work-movi- ing farm outside Johannesburg PAGE 4 FEBRUARY 1 2004 PARADE ii — 1 1 - |
