The Truth About Charlize Theron's Kids

At the 2020 Academy Awards, Charlize Theron was up for Best Actress for her role as Fox News' Megyn Kelly in Bombshell. While the statue went to Renee Zellweger for her portrayal of Judy Garland in Judy, it's not like Theron isn't already Oscar-worthy. She previously took home a statue for her role in Monster in 2006. 

But while many film fans may have been rooting for Theron to take home a second acting Oscar, two people weren't so enthusiastic: her children.

Theron has two daughters, ages 3 and 8. Theron revealed how they felt about her Oscar nomination on Jimmy Kimmel Live in January.

"It's been a thrilling couple of weeks," Theron explained. "I was nominated for a Golden Globe. I was nominated for a Critics' Choice. Spoiler alert: I didn't win."

The kids were "upset," she continued. "The little one was like, 'Well, I really wanted you to win,' like angry, and my 8-year-old was just pure disappointment."

"So when the Oscar nominations came in, it was the third time that they were like... now they're suspicious. They're just like, 'Will you win this time?' And I said, 'You know, listen, there's a good shot I'm probably not gonna win.' And my oldest just went, 'Well, this sounds like a waste of time.'"

Theron rarely shares photos or private information about her kids, but she has shared some important glimpses into her family life over the years. Here's everything we know about Theron's spunky and opinionated two daughters.

Charlize Theron adopted her eldest daughter Jackson in 2012 and her youngest daughter August in 2015. The actress always knew she would adopt multiple children one day, and she ended up doing so as a single parent by choice. "This was definitely not a second option for me," she told People in May 2018. "It was always my first."

Theron was born in South Africa and now lives in Los Angeles. She adopted both Jackson and August right here in the United States, though not necessarily by plan. In fact, she filed for adoption in every single country where she was allowed to do so as a single parent.

"I wanted to believe that somehow my child would find me in the way that we were just meant to be," Theron told NPR in December 2019. "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 happened to be that both my children ended 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."

Charlize Theron very rarely posts photos or videos of her children. She last posted a photo of her daughter Jackson in August 2019, and before that, a photo of her children's hands in 2016.

Theron does, however, love to tell candid stories about what her daughters are like. In 2018, she told People that August was going through a difficult period of potty training and told Elle that Jackson had recently started school.

The two girls make their mom laugh "like nobody's business." They had a sweet, affectionate relationship when they were younger, only to butt heads a bit more as they grew more independent. Ah, sibling rivalry!

"We went through this really beautiful stage a year ago where the baby was hugging her sibling and there was all this love and affection," Theron told People. "I was bawling my eyes out every day saying, 'This is the most beautiful love I have ever witnessed in my life.'"

"Now the baby is almost 3 and realizes she doesn't have to do everything her sibling tells her. There's a lot of wars in my house. I'm like, 'Where's the cute period that we went through?'"

In April 2019, Charlize Theron revealed that her older child Jackson is a trans girl. Before that, the public knew Jackson as a boy — but Theron had realized her child's true gender identity four years prior.

"I thought she was a boy, too," Theron told The Daily Mail. "Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said: 'I am not a boy!"

Theron has kept most of Jackson's story private — she says it's not her story to tell, per an interview with Pride Source. However, she's made it clear to the press that Jackson's identity and pronouns are not up for debate.

"I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive," she told The Daily Mail. "They were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide. My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be."