Charlize Theron’s Best Quotes About Motherhood, Raising 2 Kids: ‘I Just Love’ Them

Candid confessions. Charlize Theron hasn’t shied away from sharing her parenting anecdotes since becoming a mom.

The Oscar winner adopted her first daughter Jackson in 2012 followed by another daughter August three years later. In April 2015, Theron gushed to W magazine how the joys of starting a family later in life. "I do know that choosing to be a mom in my late 30s has been really great for me,” she shared at the time. “It’s given me perspective.”

That same year, the Bombshell star told British Vogue that she “always” wanted to have children. "[I hope] to be like my mom. Fair, tough, and supportive,” the Tully actress told the outlet at the time. "Our family is everything. Her greatest skill was encouraging me to find my own person and own independence."

Now that she’s got two little ones at home, the Golden Globe winner is content with her single status — but Jackson and August want their mom to date.

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"Two days ago I was in the car with my two girls and my little one said something like, ‘You need a boyfriend!'" Theron said during a July 2020 “In Charge With DVF” podcast episode. “And I said, ‘Actually, I don’t. Right now, I feel really good,’ and she’s like, ‘You know what, Mom? You just need a boyfriend. You need a relationship!’”

After telling her daughter she was in a relationship with herself, the Atomic Blonde star told Diane von Fürstenberg: "She had this look in her eye like she had never really contemplated that that was even a possibility. Her mind was blown, but I know that was the day that she realized there’s a different possibility.”

Theron’s last public relationship was with actor Sean Penn. The couple began dating in December 2013 but called it quits two years later. The South Africa native previously dated actor Craig Bierko from 1995 to 1997, singer Stephan Jenkins from 1998 to 2001 and Irish actor Stuart Townsend from 2001 to 2009. Though she’s been single since her split from Penn, the Monster actress shared on The Drew Barrymore Show in September 2020 that she didn’t “feel lonely.” In March 2016, she spoke with WSJ Magazine about her relationships and their relationship to her becoming a mom.

“In my honesty about wanting to have more kids, there was an understanding that a relationship had to go somewhere before it was going to be — what you hope for, which ultimately did not happen,” she told the publication. “I couldn’t foresee that, but that stuff takes time and I think it’s my responsibility as a mother to protect my child from that. And we had a very clear understanding.”

Keep scrolling to see the Emmy nominee's quotes about parenting over the years, from coparenting with her mom, Gerda Maritz, to sharing life lessons.

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“New year, same energy,” Theron captioned an Instagram photo with her daughter August. “C’mon 2022, don’t be a bitch!”

"I love Halloween because my kids love Halloween so much,” Theron told Extra in October 2021. “They are working on several costumes.”

While Theron’s daughters are becoming more “independent,” Theron told Entertainment Tonight that her “saving grace” was them joining her in bed for back scratches. “So I still feel like I have the power," she explained. "But it is definitely happening. It's inevitable right? They want to find themselves and be individuals."

Theron’s daughters looked all grown up jumping from a boat with their mom in an Instagram video. "Me and my girls 4 life,” the actress captioned the footage.

"My heart belongs to these two beautiful powerhouses,” Theron captioned a September 2020 Instagram slideshow. "I will never be the same. #NationalDaughtersDay."

"I’d say the biggest challenge for me is just homeschooling," Theron said in a Sunday Today appearance of quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic. "It was an incredibly stressful time for me, and I will make any action movie over and over and over again before I homeschool again."

The actress opened up about drinking herself "into a daytime coma dealing with 40 first graders" during a field trip.

The Long Shot star asked for her transgender daughter's correct pronouns to be used, explaining to Pride Source: "My daughter’s story is really her story, and one day, if she chooses, she’ll tell her story." 

When it comes to handling the parenting police, she exclusively told Us, "I just love my kids, I try to keep them as safe as possible. I try to support them as much as possible. I try to do what I think every other parent wants for their children, just [give them] a fair shot.”

"A big thing for me is kindness,” Theron exclusively told Us. “We kind of live by our religion, which [says], ‘Do unto others the way you want to be done to you.’ We're big on respect and thinking about others before we think about ourselves.”

During a Graham Norton Show appearance, the Old Guard star said, "I am raising two beautiful proud black African girls and I want them to find themselves and not necessarily push my ancestry on them."

“I feel like a tired mom who drank too many vodkas,” she said while accepting Elle's Women in Hollywood Award. “This is late for me!” 

"I knew that I would have to have my mom help me if I was going to do this as a single parent,” Theron told Elle. “To not acknowledge [Martiz], in coparenting my children would be a lie. ... I would feel pretty alone if I didn’t have a partner in crime in all of this.” In the beginning, I wanted to do it all and didn’t reach out for as much help as I actually needed. I felt, ‘If I don’t do all of this, then maybe I am a bad parent.' ... I’ve learned to balance things out more."

Although she still gets stressed about glitter from her daughters' princess dresses ending up on the floor, the mother of two told Ellen DeGeneres: "My kids definitely help me be less anxious about a lot of that stuff.” 

Theron gushed about how "in love" Jackson was with Emily Blunt, telling ExtraTV: "I didn't even exist."

"From the moment this baby came into our home, [my] two dogs have never been more in love," she said during an Ellen DeGeneres Show appearance. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever witnessed."

Theron joked that she "can't remember anything" from her life prior to becoming a mom. "I feel like it was always just meant to be what it is," she told E! News.

"When my kids say, 'Mom, nobody makes pasta better than you,' nothing gets close to that," Theron told Harper's Bazaar, explaining that her career took somewhat of a backseat to her family. "I don't ever need them to be like, 'Oh, you're in that movie.'"

She continued: "I am still carrying such a grudge that there's a mom in our circle who makes French toast that my kid raves about. And she's given me the recipe and I've tried it. ... I am way more driven by that stuff."