Charlize Theron revealed earlier this year in an interview with The Daily Mail that her seven-year-old daughter Jackson is transgender. For several years, Hollywood tabloids have been baffled, and sometimes not immune to criticism, by the actress's relationship with her then son Jackson, whom she adopted in 2012 and whom photographers have captured on numerous occasions with his mother dressed in skirts or dresses. An attitude that sparked controversy and criticism of the actress as a mother.
In 2016, for example, Jackson, who liked the film Frozen – he was 4 years old at the time – was seen wearing an Elsa dress, one of the characters from the Disney film, with a wig and dress, while walking down the street with his mother. Brian Williams, a well-known radio host, stirred up controversy by posting a message on his Twitter account, which he deleted hours later, in which he said: "How is it legal for Charlize Theron to let her son wear a dress and a wig?"
After the post, many social media users began to question the child's sexuality. For some Internet users, the fact that the actress allowed Jackson to dress in that way was an act that encouraged homosexuality and, in addition, a racist act. Others defended Theron's freedom to allow her son to dress as he wanted. The actress settled the issue with her statements to the British publication a year later: "Yes, I also thought he was a boy. Until he was 3 years old and looked at me and said: 'I'm not a boy!'"
The actress, who is very keen to protect the privacy of her two daughters, Jackson and August —whom she adopted in 2015— has now revealed some details about how her family has dealt with this issue in an interview she gave to the US LGBTQ website Pride Source. Thus, she explains that pretending she had a "son" in interviews was bothering Jackson and that is why she decided to make public that her daughter was transgender and that she wanted to be known as a girl and not a boy.
Theron acknowledges that her daughter Jackson's transgender journey is still "fairly new territory for the family." A statement with which she answered the question of whether having a daughter like this influences her decisions when it comes to facing the LGTBI characters she has played in some of her films: "This issue has not yet been questioned among us and I really don't know if it will be."
The actress has made it clear that she respects the girl's privacy and is not going to go much further than defending what she wants to be now: "My daughter's story is really her story and one day, if she wants, she will be the one to tell it." Theron simply puts herself in her role and says: "I feel that, as her mother, it was important for me to let the world know that I would appreciate it if they used the correct pronouns for her," a statement that refers to the fact that the media continued to name her daughter with terms referring to the male gender.
"As Jackson grew up it became more difficult for us to have people write about her with the wrong pronouns and continue to talk about her in the press as well, using the wrong terms," explains the actress. "It hurt her feelings," she continues. "I don't want to be that mother and that was the reason why I said what I said a while ago," she said in reference to her statements about Jackson's transsexuality.
"I haven't talked about this topic since then. The rest is private and it's my daughter's story and it's up to her to decide if she wants to share it," the singer said. During the interview, she was also asked about when in her career she realized she had LGBT followers and her answer is also revealing: "I've never thought about that. I try to live my life without compartmentalizing people. I'm very aware that that happens and I think the way to normalize the situation is not to talk about it in such a closed way."
