Photo: Ben Trivett
ForCharlize Theron, adoption was the perfect avenue along which to expand her family.In an interview withNPRsurrounding her newly released drama filmBombshell, the actress opened up about her decision to adopt daughtersAugust, 4, Jackson, 7½, came after she “cast a very wide net” around the idea of becoming a parent via adoption.“I wanted to believe that somehow my child would find me in the way that we were just meant to be,” Theron, 44, told the outlet. “So I wasn’t specific with anything. … In whatever country they would allow me as a single woman to adopt, that’s where I filed. And it just happenedto be that both my childrenended up being American. They were born in the United States and they both happened to be African American.”“Everything that I hoped would happen during my adoption process did happen because these two babies were meant to be in my life — and they’re my children,” she added.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Charlize Theron’s daughter.Charlize Theron/InstagramJon Kopaloff/FilmMagicTheron believes that “this concept of what a family looks like and what constitutes the ‘right’ family or a ‘strong’ family or what we think that should look like” is “definitely somethingthat we still need to work on”as a society.“In a lot of places — and I think even for a lot of people and in America — it still feels very traditional in the sense that it should be that every child should have a mother and a father,” the actress told NPR. “We’ve kind of wrapped our heads slowly around the idea of two mothers and two fathers, but not somuch around the idea of a single parent. It’s just so unfortunate. I know so many people who would be incredible parents.”She also admits, “My fight was a little bit easier because of my circumstances, but I would want that for all women who want to share their life and be part of raising another young, small child’s life.”Lisa O’Connor/AFP/GettyRELATED VIDEO: Why Charlize Theron Knew She Would Adopt Her Kids: “It Was Always My First Choice”In an interview withPrideSource, the Oscar winner also shared that for daughter Jackson, “it became harder for us the older she got that people were still writing about her in the wrong pronouns, and alsoIwas still talking about her in the pressusing the wrong pronoun.”“It really hurt her feelings,” Theron recalled. “I don’t want to be that mom, and that was really why I said what I said a while back.” (In an April interview with theDaily Mail, the actress said Jackson told her when she was 3 years old, “I am not a boy!”)“I haven’t really talked about it ever since, again, because outside of just asking that respectfully of the press — and the world, hopefully — the rest is really private and it’s her story, and it’s really up to her todecide if she wants to share that,” she explained.
ForCharlize Theron, adoption was the perfect avenue along which to expand her family.
In an interview withNPRsurrounding her newly released drama filmBombshell, the actress opened up about her decision to adopt daughtersAugust, 4, Jackson, 7½, came after she “cast a very wide net” around the idea of becoming a parent via adoption.
“I wanted to believe that somehow my child would find me in the way that we were just meant to be,” Theron, 44, told the outlet. “So I wasn’t specific with anything. … In whatever country they would allow me as a single woman to adopt, that’s where I filed. And it just happenedto be that both my childrenended up being American. They were born in the United States and they both happened to be African American.”
“Everything that I hoped would happen during my adoption process did happen because these two babies were meant to be in my life — and they’re my children,” she added.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Charlize Theron’s daughter.Charlize Theron/Instagram
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Theron believes that “this concept of what a family looks like and what constitutes the ‘right’ family or a ‘strong’ family or what we think that should look like” is “definitely somethingthat we still need to work on”as a society.
“In a lot of places — and I think even for a lot of people and in America — it still feels very traditional in the sense that it should be that every child should have a mother and a father,” the actress told NPR. “We’ve kind of wrapped our heads slowly around the idea of two mothers and two fathers, but not somuch around the idea of a single parent. It’s just so unfortunate. I know so many people who would be incredible parents.”
She also admits, “My fight was a little bit easier because of my circumstances, but I would want that for all women who want to share their life and be part of raising another young, small child’s life.”
Lisa O’Connor/AFP/Getty
RELATED VIDEO: Why Charlize Theron Knew She Would Adopt Her Kids: “It Was Always My First Choice”
In an interview withPrideSource, the Oscar winner also shared that for daughter Jackson, “it became harder for us the older she got that people were still writing about her in the wrong pronouns, and alsoIwas still talking about her in the pressusing the wrong pronoun.”
“It really hurt her feelings,” Theron recalled. “I don’t want to be that mom, and that was really why I said what I said a while back.” (In an April interview with theDaily Mail, the actress said Jackson told her when she was 3 years old, “I am not a boy!”)
“I haven’t really talked about it ever since, again, because outside of just asking that respectfully of the press — and the world, hopefully — the rest is really private and it’s her story, and it’s really up to her todecide if she wants to share that,” she explained.
source: people.com
