Charlize Theron: "I dont believe in forever after with one"

Tall, tan, blonde and dressed casually in jeans, a white t-shirt and a grey scarf casually wrapped around her neck, Charlize Theron is the epitome of natural beauty. Overlooking the beach at Malibu, the glamorous South African looks as though shes in her element.

Starring in Snow White and the Huntsmen, she plays against type as the evil Queen who will utter the infamous words, Mirror mirror on the wall. and she is most definitely the fairest of them all, in Hollywood. The 36 year old who was in a longterm relationship with Irish actor Stuart Towsend for nine years says shes happy being single and talks about her relationship to beauty and aging, and not believing in forever after with one man only. Despite her elegant appearance, she swears often and isnt afraid to make a joke.

Q: Do you like being evil?

I can make a joke, and then I know that it would be like what you write, (laughter) so Id better keep it to myself.

Q: I will write its a joke.

No you wont! (laughs) You always say that and then you never write that its a joke. No I mean look, I have no interest in kind of playing one dimensional film characters and so I never went into this going ooo, you get to play evil! I think we all saw potential to kind of take something that was iconic and turn it on its head. For me, it was really the how do you find, how do you find the circumstances that someone like that comes from to be what she is? Thats what was intriguing to me.

Q: Well we only saw ten minutes and you scared me.

Goddamnitt, what did they show you? (laughs)

Q: Your character says beauty is power, what does that mean to you?

In the trailer, I say beauty is my power, and in what way do I think beauty is power? Well you know, the fairytale is very focused on that shes only kind of doing these things for beauty and we change that. We broadened that a little bit. Theres little angles of that in there because that is important, but its broader than that. But I do think theres somethi! ng thema tically with this story, that does play on the idea that we do live in a society where women are somewhat treated like cut flowers, (laughs) wilted flowers. Men are like fine wines, they age, they get better. So I would be I think very nave to not say that that is the theme of this story in a way, but its not the only theme and that this is a character who is been has kind of been instilled at a very young age, this is how you survive. If you do not have this, you will not be powerful.

Q: Do you think there is any way you can change that image? Its true women are

Yeah, I mean I think it would start with how you raise your daughters, thats the only thing I can say. I feel like I had that with my mother, the way she raised me and I think thats what the movie says too, Snow White has a mother that teaches her that and I think that mothers need to have a delicate hand in raising daughters, as well as fathers, because I think thats where it all starts. If you raise a child to believe in their value, or having them value themselves, stuff lies in that. Thats part of the problem too. I hope that Ive had enough of that instilled in me that thats not what the value of you is, to go through my life and hopefully age gracefully, fuck, knock on wood, (laughs) some predictions here that Im going to have to live by.

Q: The story of Snow White, and that someday your Prince will come, like you said, the way you raise your daughter

Im hoping for a few princes, not just one. (laughs) Thats my philosophy in life. I dont believe in forever after with one. Ive said this before, but Im also not here to say thats for me, Ive seen that with other people, so thats the greatness about freewill, we all have freewill to do what we all want, is take a step back, dont judge, Ive had some amazing loves in my life. Im ready for some more, but Ive never even, in my relationships, Ive never. thats why I could never take vows like that, because its not what I believe in. I dont believe that that could happen for me! . For me .

Q: Why do you think that though? Why do you think it couldnt happen to you?

I dont know, its just my truth. Its kind of what I believe, its what I experience and maybe Ill be proven wrong. But I also just dont believe in that only with love, I believe in that with people. I think people come into your life for a certain amount of time, and I think that theres something greedy to go through your life thinking, This is forever. You have to be in my life until death do us part. Like theres something very abusive, in my view, about that. I am very grateful for the time that I have with people in my life, my friends or people, lovers who come into my life. And I dont take any day with them for granted, because I dont know how long thats going to last.

Q: The word forever can be quite claustrophobic as well.

Its just also very unpredictable. How about today, how about just

Q: Does anyone actually have lifelong friends?

Yeah, its amazing that can happen, but I dont treat them like they are going to be there forever, I treat them like they are here now. Thats kind of I guess my philosophy.

Q: You looked breathtaking at the Golden Globes

Stop it, Im not going to sleep with you. (laughs)

Q: I saw you in Young Adult, I thought you were fantastic, but a lot of people didnt like it

Dont tell me that! (laughs)

Q: You said something before about beauty, did you ever hate your beauty?

You are awesome. (laughs) I wish I had enough time in my day to sit down and have that dialogue with myself. (Laughs) Like I really do wish I had another hour, my day is filled with so much other crap, life that takes over, but if I had the time to do that, somebody should just put me out of my misery, because then Im a waste of humanity. Yeah, in my headspace, I dont have time for that.

Q: Do you ever have a bad skin day?

Fuck yeah! (laughter) I woke up this morning, cause my publicist decided to take me out to dinner, which by the way was at 5:30, we we! re like the early bird special, (laughter) like the two oldest people, the restaurant was like, we are not open yet! We were like, can we please come in? And she ordered a bottle of sake, and I walked into this photoshoot we had to do earlier today and I think my eyes walked in first, before my body walked in (laughter), and the poor makeup artist was just like, Im going to come right back, Im going to get some ice, (laughter), I was like, yep, you are going to earn your money today! (laughter) Lets go to work!

Q: How does it go, what is the preparation that you have to go through in order to be so astonishing?

This is what people dont. I think thats what the transformation is all about, what people look like in movies, thats so transforming, but its real life, all of that stuff is really transforming. People are buying magazine covers and actually believing thats what people look like, and its not what people look like. Its not what I look like, thats the shit that people are buying into, and when I go to the Golden Globes, I have a makeup artist, I have a hairdresser, I have a manicurist, Ive got a person who is designing a dress for me from Paris, Ive got a stylist who is like getting jewellery from Switzerland. I mean, its like the most bizarre experience, its so other worldly that I cant take credit for any of that. Beause Im there sipping champagne. (Laughter)

Q: Did you grow up with fairytales?

I grew up with African Folk Tales, yes, us Africans take our folk tales really seriously. We didnt get a lot of, we had sanctions, in South Africa, from the time that I was growing up we had sanctions, so we didnt get a lot of that stuff.

Q: Do you think thats why you were thinking about happy ever after in a different way?

Well I just wanted to be Daryl Hannah in Splash. (laughs)

Q: Americans are obsessed with marriage, having a happy ending, finding the prince.

Well Im just a very selfish bitch and I want many princes. (laughs) Maybe thats what it is. Look, I came f! rom a fa mily where I didnt really have a great example of a good marriage, and culturally, divorce wasnt accepted, maybe that scared me, I dont know. I try not to over analyze it. I try to just live my own truths. I think a lot of times Im fascinated by it, and Ill ask somebody, oh, weve been together for 10 years and we are getting married, and Im like, Why now, why now are you getting married? And its usually because they feel pressure from their family. I feel really lucky that I dont have that, I dont have family that makes me feel like Im a dirty whore. (laughter) Dont print that! (Laughter) /Viva Press