Charlize Theron on Trans Daughter: Wrong Pronouns 'Really Hurt' Her

In April of this year, film star Charlize Theron explained that one of her children is transgender in an interview that included this indelible quote:

"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!' "

Daughter Jackson - now seven - clued Theron in when the child was three years old, the star noted.

Trans children often know from an extremely early age who they are, in spite of exterior physiological indications to the contrary. They also often assert that innate knowledge in the face of insistence from parents and others who don't listen to them and refer to them as the gender that their exterior physiologies suggest.

In a more recent interview, Theron expanded on her comments from last spring, Buzzfeed reported.

Theron, in speaking with the publication Pride Source, said that she had publicly clarified her daughter's gender because "I think it became harder for us the older she got that people were still writing about her in the wrong pronouns, and also I was still talking about her in the press using the wrong pronoun."

Added the star, "It really hurt her feelings. I don't want to be that mom, and that was really why I said what I said a while back."

BuzzFeed recalled that in the same interview with UK newspaper the Daily Mail in which she revealed her daughter's gender, Theron - ever the mom everyone might wish they had - stood up firmly for her role as the defender, protector, and supporter of her children, no matter what.

"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," Theron said. "And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that."

Though Theron isn't worried about her daughter being trans, she has expressed concern for the safety of her children - both of whom are adopted and black - as the United States seemingly veers toward a more racist political and social environment. Last year, Theron gave an interview with Elle magazine in which she seemed to suggest that she had given thought to leaving the country due to concerns for the safety of her children.

Theron later clarified to the Associated Press that she did not intend to say she tempted to flee America. The actress went on to add:

We are living in a time where we have to start vocalizing and talking honestly about things that are going on. ... And we also have a right to vent about that stuff. I'm not leaving the country. But I can share with people that I've thought about that. You know? Yeah – and that I am worried about my children's future. I think we all are as parents."

In the new interview, Theron was every bit as protective and respectful of her daughter, saying, "The rest is really private and it's her story, and it's really up to her to decide if she wants to share that."

Theron, who has been a strong LGTBQ advocate for years, grew up in South Africa. She spoke in the new interview about how that background affected her views, as she also had last spring when she told the Daily Mail:

"You know, 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."