Charlize Theron.Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty

UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 26: Charlize Theron attends CTAOP’s Night Out on June 26, 2021 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for CTAOP)

Charlize Theronis fully in charge of her own life.

The actress, 47, gave a wide-ranging interview toThe Hollywood Reporterfor the magazine’s newest cover story, and revealed that she likes doing things for herself because “it’s my life, and I want to participate in it.”

“One thing that early tragedy brought me is therealization that you don’t have forever. You just don’t,” theFast Xactress said. “And it’s easy to be like, ‘Oh, it’s one movie,’ but then it’s another movie and another.”

While she doesn’t “want to sound like I’m carrying some message on my sleeve,” Theron noted that she does “think for women, we worry [that] if we don’t work harder and we don’t keep pushing, we will never quite arrive.”

“And it is exhausting. I never feel like, ‘Oh, I can just f—ing enjoy this,’ " she admitted.

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Charlize Theron on the cover ofThe Hollywood Reporter.Chrisean Rose for The Hollywood Reporter

charlize theron

Theron also toldTHRthat while it can be difficult, “you do get more perspective as you get older, and, at almost 50, it does get easier.”

“And my kids help,” she said of daughtersAugust, 7, andJackson, 10. “I love being a mom more than I like being an actor or a producer. And I never thought I would say that. If somebody said to me tomorrow, ‘You can’t do both,’ would I be sad to give up acting? Of course. But it would be a no-brainer for me.”

While theOscarwinner did not specify the “early tragedy” in her life during her interview withTHR, she has been open in the past about the night her mother,Gerda, killed her father Charles in self-defensein June 1991 when Theron was 15. (No charges were filed.)

“I’mnot ashamed to talk about it, because I do think that the more we talk about these things, the more we realize we are not alone in any of it,” Theron added. “I think, for me, it’s just always been that this story is about growing up with addicts and what that does to a person.”

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Today, Theron “loves(s) hanging out with” her mom — to the point where some people say the two “have such an unhealthy relationship.”

“I’m like, ‘If you can be as funny as her, then I’ll hang out with you,’ " theBombshellactress toldTHR.

Theron went on to say that she “for sure learned” about “enjoying life” from Gerda especially.

“If I showed you the text from her this morning, it would be a sunrise on a hike, which she calls her Prozac, and that’s every morning. Before I wake up, she’s already like, ‘It’s a gorgeous f—ing day and the sun is up and we are grateful,’ " Theron said, adding, “She’s also a broad and she swears way more than I do.”

source: people.com