Charlize Theron opens her heart about single life

SINGLE: Charlize Theron

THEREs no lack of men queueing up to take her out nowadays but, amazingly, the boys Charlize Theron fancied at school used to ignore her.

The Oscar-winning Hollywood actress who has been deemed too pretty for film roles in the past says she struggled to get dates for most of her teens.

She grew up in South Africa and says: I played the song Tears on My Pillow over and over and I felt like it was the end of the world because I didnt have a boyfriend. It was just so heartbreaking.

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I dont think Ive actually been on a date with somebody I didnt know. Ive been on dates with my boyfriend of course but Ive never really dated.

Charlize, 36, split up from Irish actor Stuart Townsend last year and admits she has struggled to get used to being unattached again.

Ive been in serious relationships from the time I was 19 and Im single for the first time in my life since then, she says. I had to make a real conscious effort to rediscover myself and its hard. Im a creature who really found her comfort zone in relationships.

But theres something really powerful in being OK with being alone, especially for women.

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Charlize Theron (Pic: Rex)

Charlize and Stuart, 38, were together for nine years. They were once so close they used to describe themselves as husband and wife and declared that they didnt need a wedding ceremony to seal their love.

And its clear she did everything she could to keep their romance alive, even if she now accepts she has to move on.

Charlize says: It was sinking but I gave it a fight to try and make it work. That was my priority. Ive never re-connected with an ex and I feel that once Im done, Im really done.

Im really at peace and feeling good about it. All of us go through darkness but that doesnt make you dark.

Every single person in my life has gone through loss, been lonely, been sad, and amazing things have happened to them. Theyve had the birth of children and the loss of children. I mean, this is life. Life is all of those things.

In a sign that Charlize and Stuart have both moved on, they recently sold their Malibu house this year for more than 4million.

They bought the ocean-front home in 2003 but Charlize, currently the face of Dior perfume JAdore, now lives alone in Los Angeles.

Since their split, she has been linked to a string of Hollywood leading men including actor Ryan Reynolds.

We are talking in a restaurant in New York. Charlize, who plays the Evil Queen in forthcoming film Snow White and the Huntsman, comes across as coolly confident with a strong sense of humour and, at times, a philosophical nature.

I think happiness is overrated, she says. I dont know a world where you can be happy all the time.

You hav! e to kin d of go through the highs and the lows.

If its a low moment, Im at peace with it and it will pass and then a high moment will come along. Charlize has worked hard to get where she is and her early career was a series of a few highs and a lot of lows.

But since winning the best actress Oscar in 2003 for her chilling portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster, shes been on an almost permanent high.

She earned another Oscar nomination for playing an abused single mother in North Country and is now firmly on Hollywoods A-list.

Its a lifetime away from where she grew up, on the family farm in the rural town of Benoni, South Africa, along with 10 dogs and a goat named Bok who she called her best friend.

For years she told the world that her alcoholic father, Charles, who ran a road construction company, died in a car accident in 1991.

But later it was revealed that he was actually shot dead by his wife Gerda at home after he attacked her while in a drunken fury.

Charlize, who was just a schoolgirl of 15 at the time, was upstairs in her bedroom when her dad was shot dead. No charges were ever brought.

It is perhaps her tough childhood that makes her so appreciative of her Los Angeles lifestyle.

She said: The ultimate luxury in my life is to have a job that isnt work and not to have to work to pay my bills.

Theres not a day goes by that I dont understand how fortunate I am and how many actors have to struggle because its their survival.

To be in a position where I can take three years off is such a luxury that Im incredibly grateful for.

Charlize began studying ballet aged six, danced professionally in Johannesburg and when she was 16 she landed a contract with an Italian modelling agency.

She moved to Milan and spent the next year travelling around Europe before moving to New York.

Charlize studied at the Joffrey Ballet School until a knee injury put an end to her dancing career.

She found herself living in a che! ap hotel , broke and eating bread taken from restaurants.

It was at this point she turned to acting and in between minor roles as a film extra, she managed to seal bigger parts in films such as 2 Days In The Valley, The Devils Advocate and That Thing You Do!, Tom Hanks directing debut.

She was often passed over for the best parts because producers thought she was too pretty.

But she finally won acclaim for the film Monster, in which she played a lesbian serial killer, putting on more than three stone for the role.

I think a lot of people have an assumption that because my work is sometimes very dark and heavy, that is who I am, but that is so not me, she says.

The first thing that directors always say to me is, Wow, I had no idea that you were actually not dark and heavy and that you have a sense of humour, which I always find so ironic.

I think of myself as having a pretty twisted sense of humour.

I learned at a very young age that humour really and truly was the best way to look at the darker, nastier, heavier things in life.

Snow White and the Huntsman is due out next summer but fans can see her sooner in Young Adult, which opens in the US this week.

She plays a ghost writer who decides to try to find love again with her high school sweetheart.

But as one of Hollywoods most eligible women, its unlikely Charlize will have to go to those lengths to get herself back into a relationship.

charlize theron , stuart townsend