Charlize Theron has confirmed that her child Jackson is transgender.
The actress adopted Jackson in March 2012 and her three-year-old daughter August in July 2015, and has never been one to sugarcoat the ups and downs of parenting.
Related: Charlize Theron Will Play Megyn Kelly In Upcoming Biopic
The mother-of-two opened up about her seven-year-old to the Daily Mail UK on Friday:
“Yes, I thought she was a boy, too. Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said: ‘I am not a boy!’ So there you go! I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive. 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.”
If only all parents could be this progressive!
Since then, the Oscar winner has dressed Jackson in female clothes, but was under fire on Twitter in August 2016 after Jackson was spotted out in a Elsa from Frozen-esque dress and hat with braid.
The 43-year-old elaborated on her right to parent and protect her daughters:
“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. And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that.”
Though they never tied the knot, things were serious enough between Theron and Sean Penn during their relationship for the actor to reportedly consider adopting Jackson, though the actress adopted August on her own while the two were still dating.
Related: Cynthia Nixon Reveals Her Oldest Child Is Transgender
The Long Shot star, who grew up in South Africa, gave credit to her mother for raising her with an open mind:
“I grew up in a country where people lived with half-truths and lies and whispers and nobody said anything outright, and I was raised very specifically not to be like that. I was taught by my mom that you have to speak up; you have to be able to know that, when this life is over, you’ll have lived the truth you’re comfortable with, and that nothing negative can come from that. Growing up as a young girl, I had this great representation in front of me of what you could be as a woman.”
Major props to you, Charlize, for being such an open-minded momma!!
[Image via Judy Eddy/WENN.]
