Okay, now I’m obsessed with figuring out what’s going on with Charlize Theron’s bust. Go back and look at her Esquire cover – they Photoshopped the crap out of her cleavage/bust on that cover, and now here she is on the cover of W Magazine, looking surprisingly… busty. Did she get some modest implants? Because I don’t remember these. At all. As for this W Mag cover feature… she’s promoting Mad Max: Fury Road. I would have loved to have seen Charlize and Tom Hardy together for this shoot, but they’ve both said that they didn’t really get along so well, so no joint editorials for us! You can read the full interview here. Some highlights:
Her first time watching Mad Max: “I saw Mad Max, and I remember certain images: the road, the cars going really fast. But I didn’t know who Mel Gibson was. I thought he was just some dude who had a really cool job. In South Africa, we didn’t have the whole celebrity thing—I had no idea that people knew actors’ names.”
Shooting Mad Max in Namibia, close to South Africa: “I was conflicted. Everybody knows that feeling of going home and being giddy and then, at the same time, wanting to projectile vomit. [Laughs] The shoot lasted an eternity—we were there for seven months.”
Shaving her head for the role: “At first, my character was going to be ghostlike and albino. And then I thought it would be stronger to shave my head. I called George [Miller] and told him my plan. He went silent, which I thought was a good sign. So I borrowed some clippers and buzzed it all off…. yes, it was really fun to shower with my bald head. You have not showered until you’ve showered hairless. That’s all I have to say.”
Her dogs and her son: “They’re all my children. I know people get weirded out when people talk that way about their animals, but love is love and care is care, and just because one needs a diaper and the other does not doesn’t mean you don’t have a deep feeling for them. The loss of some of my dogs has been just as devastating as the loss of a family member.”
Judgy about aging: “I do know that choosing to be a mom in my late 30s has been really great for me. It’s given me perspective… I think, like many women, I was judgmental toward women as they aged. Women, in our society, are compartmentalized so that we start to feel like we’re cut flowers and after a while we will wilt. I realize now that’s not the case—we can celebrate every age. That’s my encouragement to 20-year-olds who are terrified of getting older: Don’t have a nervous breakdown and don’t hit the Chardonnay too hard. Getting older is not that bad.”
Oh, I wonder if Charlize’s dogs-and-children-are-the-same comments are going to rile people up? I don’t think my dog is my child… he’s my fur-baby and I would be really devastated if something happens to him (right now I think he’s immortal), but no, he’s not my child. (He’s better, hahaha.)
Charlize also talks about dancing at the Oscars a few years ago and how Channing Tatum is lovely and she only did it so Seth MacFarlane would hire her for A Million Ways to Die in the West, because she wanted to get hired for a comedy. A film which bombed, right? Oh well… at least she got to do a comedy.
Photos courtesy of W Magazine.
I’ve never been a mother so I can’t say whether or not pet love and mommy love are analagous feelings. But, having recently become a cat parent, I can say the love (and insanity) my kitteh makes me feel are what I would imagine being a mom might feel like. Right now Zen babe is chilling on my windowsill, looking at me from behind my curtains, like “I know you’re talking about me mom.”
Cats understand what we’re saying. They also speak flawless French and Mandarin Chinese. The only reason they grace us with their presence is because unlike them, we have opposable thumbs and someone has to pop the top on those cans of gourmet shrimp pate.
The mandarin Chinese translator I recently hired told me that Zen’s sole mission in life is to become the supreme ruler of all string-like objects, and to remind me of what a hopeless peasant I am on an hourly basis.
You now understand your purpose in life.
My cat is French. Pardon: Her Majesty is French, she has a French passport and she is the QUEEN of f#@’n everything. And she tolerates me as long as I provide her with poulet and all that good stuff I buy for her.
I will happily admit I call mine my furry babies and I am human mammy (also poo-tray lady and food lady). My family are all pet mad so they don’t bat en eyelid, my mum used to call her cat our brother.
Mr Lindy just ignores me when I talk to them and refer to him as their daddy but I don’t care quite frankly.
Lol @ poo tray lady. I want to start a club. The Poo Tray Ladies. T shirts will be available next week.
One of them sits and inspects my work while I do it, occasionally making approving “rwaawr” noises. The other one just barges past mid scoop and does her thing while the lid is still off. I believe it’s her way of showing me my place in our apartment food chain.
Awwww I bet you’re an awesome kitty mom, Shambles! ♥
D’awwww shucks, thank you Kitten! 😊 I love my little weirdo more than anything in da werld.
Update: he’s now running up and down the levels of his perch, making strange noises. Possibly singing in mandarin Chinese.
As both a mother and a cat owner (3) I DO get annoyed by the comparison of pets to children. Animals are not people. Yes, you can love them greatly and feel great loss but there is none of them in you like your children (assuming they are biological).
The commitment to a pet is not as long, the expense not as great, and the heartbreak they can cause not the same as when you become a parent (regardless of how you come to be a parent). A pet will never tell you they hate you or break your heart in the way a child can. They just won’t.
I have no problem with the term “fur babies” or feeling great loss when a pet dies. Of course they impact your life. But the latest round of PetSmart commercials equating pet ownership to parenthood did ruffle my feathers. I know not everyone will agree with me and that’s okay but yes, Charlize gets a massive eye roll from me.
Well, you get a massive eye roll from me for your “assuming they are biological” comment.
I only meant if they are biological, they have the same genetics as you. That was all. I knew it would probably be misinterpreted by someone but I didn’t feel like writing a book-long comment by including every qualitative clarification. I did misphrase though. I should have written none of you in them which is what I meant. Again, genetically.
Me too. She is insufferable, really. I’ve always had pets, love animals, but to compare them to my child… no. But it does show how much the adoption has made her connect as a mother to a son – zero. To adopt and connect takes twice the dedication and love and devotion, IMHO. She is apparently incapable of such.
@Lucinda, My cat’s tummy got upset a couple of hours after my original post, and he pooped in my hand. That kinda did break my heart.
All jokes aside, I do understand the sentiment of your comment. Like I said, I’m not a mom so I wouldn’t understand. But I do have hella love for my kitty babe.
The Pet Smart ads are meant to humorous.
you do not speak for every parent though
having someone slide out your vagina (since you emphasized bio children for some reason) doesnt make everyone feel the same way or parent the same way and contrary to popular belief, it doesnt make you a better or even good person
I’m a mother and am maternal with our dogs/cats; compared to 1970s animal husbandry of neglect and indifference, I think peoplizing pets is a new & improved zeitgeist
lol, this thread))) 1)cats r not your children , 2) cats r not comparable to children. Im captain obvious and my job is done.
You and me both, Eleanor. My cat likes to jump in my lap when I’m at my computer (in the computer chair), and get comfortable…knowing that I can’t hold her like that forever. Then I get up, and she gets the chair. That she sleeps in for most of the day. The little bugger.
My boy cat (Max) tries to sleep on top of my laptop all the time. He also walks my keyboard ( so annoying). I’m not a mother but I can’t imagine life without my cat babies.
Those boobs sure do look like implants in that reclining shot. Charlize is such a beautiful woman until she opens her mouth. The more I read her comments, the more I think she and Penn are a perfect match.
Couldn’t agree more!
+1. Silence is golden with this one.
WORD.
Shhhhhhhhh.
Yep!
Charbitch you can try as hard as you want make me like you but so many sources out there say you’re evil and mean. Her looks don’t match her personality AT ALL.
Yeah, I love what she says about aging–the imagery of cut flowers, wilting and chardonnay. Of course, she’s saying aging is NOT those things, but I rather like the picture she painted.
My dog and I spent a good part of the weekend with my mom, and while my mom is very sweet to my pup, I got the impression, as she would pet my dog, that she was thinking, “I want a grandchild, not a granddog.” I love my dog dearly and care for her greatly, but I really don’t think about her as though she is a child. I keep my nieces and nephews often- overnight, by myself- and we have a great time together, but come Sunday, when it is time for them to go back home, I am exhausted and ready for them to leave. My dog never exhausts me, though. I put a lot of thought and energy into her care, but is nothing compared to taking care of children. “I’m hungry. I don’t want to eat that. I need to go to the bathroom. My brother teased me. My sister pulled my hair. I hate this shirt. Can I watch one more episode of Jesse? I want my mommy. I want my daddy. I want to go ride bikes. Where are my crayons?” Oh, and after my nephew leaves, I spend about an hour cleaning every bathroom in the house. The pee rings around the toilet are so gross. My dogs piddle was nothing compared to those. And my dog no longer piddles in the house.
Haha! I would love to get a dog, but I feel that dogs need someone who’s there for them all the time. You can’t explain to them that you need to go to work. I don’t mind leaving my kid in daycare, but dogs apparently would need me all the time!
there’s doggy daycare or dog walkers.
She is giving me Catherine Tramell LIFE in this cover
If you truly loved your son Charlize – you wouldn’t be dating Sean women beater Penn.
Plus the real truth about Charlize is out – she is stunningly beautiful but underneath there is snob and a bitchy person. Beauty is as beauty does when it comes to Charlize.
Why does no one ever bring this up in a Robin Wright thread? Since she actually had children with him and married him.
Good point.
True, because it’s not like he didn’t already have a rep by the time they married.
I think that Penn’s reputation was bad enough when he and Robin got together, which makes me think she’s as icy cold and bitchy as Charlize. Also based on comments of columnists (I remember reading a The Sunday Times interview last year, whose columnist was terrified by her bitchyness), Lainey always says how prickly and frightening Robin is. It could be a defense mechanism, after so many years in the gossip eye with Penn, and I think Robin probably has a very complex and intense personality, just like Penn. Just look at her new f*ck piece a.k.a fiancé Ben Foster: a hothead method assh*ole. But also I think Penn has a type: mean, ice-cold blondes.
I had never thought about that and you are right. Maybe he only abuses his partners, not children? Obviously this is not okay, I’m just thinking that his children with robin seem well adjusted? Don’t know much about them but haven’t heard bad stuff, so maybe he is decent with children.
I agree with other posters. Charlize’s insides do not match her outsides. Sean and Charlize might actually be a good fit. Maybe he’s too scared of her to dare mess with her. I would be! No clue about the boobs. Can’t remember what they looked like in the past.
I agree. If she can make the statements she made, I don’t think she even knows what love is. Also I’m confused about this statement:
“I do know that choosing to be a mom in my late 30s has been really great for me. It’s given me perspective… ”
Either a transcription error, a typo, or she really said that. In any case… huh??
“Channing Tatum is lovely”
HA! I see you Charlize. You can’t fool me!
*whips hair back and prances off*
You guys know the commercial where the woman needs glasses and she mistakes a raccoon for her cat? That’s totally me. I say that to my cats. “Come snuggles with momma!!” I am mom. They are my babies. I’m sure they just think I’m the food dispenser.
Hey animals have love and affection feelings as well. I am sure your pets love you and not because you provide them with food..
OH I know Maya. I was just joshing.
I wake up with a bed full of snuggling furbabies and I know they love me.
So pretty!
I’m not sure about her personality, but agree, she is physically stunning to me.
The styling on this shoot helps quite a bit, too. It’s very well done. Of course she is a stunning woman as well but her beauty is visually accented here quite brilliantly
I adore and cherish my pets, and when we had to put our Westie to sleep, it hurt so much I had to put my face in my pillow and scream. But still, I wouldn’t compare it to losing a child. My brother lost his 19 year old son. There’s no pain like that in the world.
You’re right. I’m not a mom, so I wasn’t sure (comment below)–but I can’t even imagine the devastation if something were to happen to my nieces or nephew. There really isn’t a comparison. I’m so sorry that you and your family had to experience that.
Thank you. It was the worst thing my family has ever been through, and my brother has been heroic, but he will never be the same.
Please don’t think I am dismissing what happened to your beautiful dog. Love is love, and I know that must have hurt you so terribly. Maybe it isn’t productive to compare things that way. I was just responding to her comment. As I said, losing a pet is horrible and breaks your heart. I’ve been there, too. I think the difference may be that you go into pet ownership knowing that you will probably outlive your pet. You never expect to outlive your child.
@GNAT
” I think the difference may be that you go into pet ownership knowing that you will probably outlive your pet. You never expect to outlive your child.”
Exactly what I was gonna say. Losing your pet is a fact of live. Actually I wouldn’t want to outlive my dog, pets depend on us so much. No one gets into parenthood however thinking they’re gonna bury their child one day.
Agree with both of you. It’s a different relationship with different expectations, longevity, etc.
That said, if people want to treat their pets like kids, fine by me. As long as they’re loved and well cared for, it’s all good.
Well said. I have been a dog mommy, and am now a human mommy. They are both love, but not comparable. At all.
Yes, I like the dog and cat just fine, but would throw them under a bus to save my kids (or any kids for that matter).
Yes I tend to agree with you guys but it’s ok to say that both scenarios are incredibly painful, but painful in two very different ways.
I think instead of comparing, it’s better to say that each is just ….a different kind of a loss.
When my mom lost her favorite cat (and believe me, we lost many cats over the years) she went to a really dark place, and actually became very depressed. It broke my heart to see her so sad and I have to admit, it really surprised me that she took it as hard as she did. That cat was just very, very special to her and because of that fact, I could never minimize the pain that she felt with the loss of a pet.
It is awful to lose a beloved pet. Just awful. I also would never minimize the pain someone felt at loosing one.
Yes, I did not mean to minimize it at all. When our dog died, it left a hole in my life. She was such a source of love, company, amusement and comfort to me. When she was gone, I felt very down and lonely without her. And I cherish the cat we have now, and truly love him. But I at least have the comfort of knowing they had the best life I could give them, never knew cruelty or want, and were spoiled rotten. But when my nephew died, it was different. So many what ifs and whys. Why will he never get to graduate from college, meet a girl, fall in love, have a career, start a family, grow old with the woman he loves? 19 years on this earth. How do you live with that?
I lost my cat, Jessie three years ago. People truly love their pets. It really hurts to lose a pet.
@gnat
I’m so sorry about your brother. If anything happened to my daughter it would break me.
Charlize is a fool for saying that about pets. I actually got the impression she was high in that interview because she sound so loopy and loveydovy. I am a cat lady so I mean no offense but pets are not children.
Thank you. He is my little brother, and we are very close. I could do so little to comfort him. Everything I thought of to say just sounded stupid and hollow. It was horrible.
True. God forbid. No parent should burry their child. This pain and the fear when you are a parent I thought couldn’t exist. I cried a lot each time a pet of mine passed but never ever in my life had experienced even a small portion of what I feel towards my child and each time he is unwell. The fear is paralyzing. The pain would be tearing. And I don’t think it’s about outliving. It’s about nature and how our bodies are programmed to respond to having a child – hormones and all.
Add me to that train as well. I am a dog owner, and I have grieved the loss of a beloved pet, but as a mother, it is nowhere near the love and committment of a child. It is often said when you have a child, it is like your heart walking around outside of your body, and that is so true. With children, you feel all of their ups and downs. When my children have been hurt, either physically or emotionally (i.e. lost friendships, school/teacher problems, being left out), it is excruciating for me and my husband. You worry and celebrate the possible pathways in their futures, and you worry you have “messed them up” quite a lot (Well, most parents I know feel that way.) My son has type 1 diabetes, and I cannot tell you how many times people come up to me and tell me they “understand” because their cat or dog has T1D, too. Pets are not the same as your children, and I feel for Charlize’s beautiful son for a myriad of reasons, and her publicly equating them to her dogs is one of them.
The fear of losing them is so palpable that if someone else loses a child, it honestly breaks my heart. My close friend lost her 6-year-old to a rare cancer a few years ago. I know one thing that pains her deeply is the feeling that others will “forget” her son was on this Earth. GNAT, I am so sorry for your brother and his family. I’m still kind of “new” here, but I realize many on this site disdain Christians; however, I am one and I will pray for your brother and his family to have help with enduring the pain that I’m sure will never go away. If you are not of that faith, you can still know that by you mentioning your brother’s loss here, even on a celebrity gossip thread, you have many here meditating upon, praying, thinking of, and/or honoring your nephew.
Thank you, Luce, for your very kind words. Your prayers for my brother and our family are deeply appreciated.
I’m still trying to sort out my many strange and varied emotions, but I’ve come to suspect that the violent, premature death of my trusting and helpless little chihuahua is what caused me to have a nervous breakdown years ago. If I can become that damaged by a canine tragedy, then Lord help me if I ever choose to one day have children. At first glance, this headline is an eye roller–but, after thinking about it, I really can’t knock it.
I’m so sorry about your doggie. Mine died just over a week ago. It wasn’t violent but very quick, I had to put her to sleep or she’d suffocate to death from the coughing fits that her cancer gave her. Not even a week went by from her diagnosis. She was a huge part of my life… friends say that the only way to fill the hole she left is to get another one and they’d know, they rescued a lot of dogs each. So this week I’m getting another one, we’ll see. Have you had any dogs since then?
OMG, I am so sorry for your loss, the two of you. From the heart.
@qwerty I really recommend you getting another one, especially if it’s a rescue. My mom was inconsolable after losing our dog, and after much begging I convinced her to adopt. She now thanks for me for ‘making her’ and we have two angels in our home. They are the most loving doggies ever. You can feel the gratefulness in adopted dogs.
I love my dogs…but I truly can say, I don’t love my dogs as much as my children!
I never like Charlize…but ever since she optioned the book “Dark Places” and put herself in the lead role…I am pissed at her. I really, really, like that book, and she is absolutely, unbelieveably, undeniably, wrong for that part!!!!!! I’ll probably still see it, but the whole time, I will be cursing CT in my head! lol
I can’t quite picture her in the role either, but I don’t think she optioned it and cast herself. The director and another producer did, and then cast her. She is producing on it too though.
Sure. Nothing wrong with how she feels. It’s her feelings. But I think the majority of parent who owned animals before kids quickly realize as soon as your baby is born that an animal is not on the same level as your child. I was one of those people who said I would love my dog the same too….ha hahahahah omg not even close.
I thought I would never love anything as much as I loved my fur-kids until my human-kid came along. For me, not comparable – and it pains me to say that.
To each their own though – better she loves her dogs so fiercely than not at all. 🙂
Conversely it could mean she doesn’t love her human kid enough. I worry about him in all this. Children are such helpless pawns. 🙁
I feel the same for her son.
If that’s how she feels – cool.
Me personally though, I thought I loved my cat like a human baby. Then I had a human baby and quickly realized I was wrong. My love for my cat pales in comparison to my love for my child.
Okay, now I love her. That whole dog and babies comment. Love!
I liked her until she started giving interviews and saying pretty dumb (and questionable) things:
-the rape comparison regarding the paparazzi
-the gluten free muffins she founded nasty so she give them first to the dogs, then to her cleaning ladies. (WTF?)
-mistaken Istanbul with Budapest ( Is she a dropout?)
She needs to stop trying so hard to look intellectual and educated and deep. She’s not. She’ll be loved and worshiped anyway, so just stop.
Definitely love my kids on a whole different level then I love my dog and cat! My dog is awesome and the cat is a saint and my kids are annoying as heck, but my love for the kids a more visceral, “extension of myself” kind of love. I would kill another human for them.
You just can’t connect with a pet the same way you connect with another human. Human relationships go a lot deeper and are a lot more complex. You can love your pet a lot and the loss of one can be truly devastating, but I just can’t think the relationships would ever be on the same level.
Don’t get me wrong, though. If I had to choose someone to spend the rest of my life with, I’d choose my cat in a heartbeat.
Animals aren’t humans. I hate it when people compare pets to children. Frankly, I think it says something about her mothering that she can’t appreciate the difference.
I agree with you 100%
I agree. What a horrible thing to say about her son, and I say that as someone who loves her dog very very much.
it is impossible not to love every animal lover on this thread. the end.
I mean that’s her “truth” or whatever, and she’s entitled to it, but I can’t stand pet/child comparisons. It’s especially bothersome to me coming from her…
If my house was on fire and I could only grab my kid or my dog, I think it goes without saying that I’d grab my kid.
I love my dog and will be very, very sad when he dies but it is nothing like the love I feel for my children!
I am relieved by this thread, and that I am not alone in my resolve that pets are not the same as children. Our society can get so bizarre on this topic of equating cats dogs etc to human beings that I felt like I was taking crazy pills when I walked through petsmart and saw the dog clothing outfits. I thought if PETA finds out what I really think they will come for me….
But this doesn’t mean I don’t care about animals!
I think they are different, too, but I also think there are valid comparisons. A pet is basically dependent on you for care, even for its life. You care for them, feed them, worry when they’re sick, protect them from danger, make sure they’re warm or have water on a hot day. They love you and are happy to see you when you come home. You share a little language, and you learn what they want from their unique signals. So in many ways, they are like a baby to you. But, as I said above, I don’t equate the two emotionally, either, even though the love I feel for my pets is very real and deep.
The thing is, a pet won’t grow up to become a functional fraction of society. Changing diapers and feeding your child are obviously important (they die if you don’t, duh); but that’s not the essence of parenting. It’s educating your child, teaching them right from wrong, dealing with their emotional struggles, etc. Cat and dog brains aren’t developed to reach that.
This doesn’t mean the love you can have for a pet is any less valid or anything, though.
Yes, I see what you mean. I guess I just meant that those types of actions can bring out maternal feelings of a sort. Protectiveness and love. But of course, it’s not the same.
Maybe she feels this way because a nanny does most of the tough things parent-wise.
false speculation. IMO
Not false, and you are right, just your opinion
If you can compare your pets worth and potential loss with that of your child then you don’t have a normal level of extreme love that most people (thankfully) naturally have for their kids. They’re not the same!!!!!! I find the comparison disturbingly detached.
Explains why she’s so happy to expose her son to a vicious woman beater though.
Love for a pet is different from love of a child. Just like loving a child is different from loving a spouse. Doesn’t lessen the love and the impact they have on your life.
All my kids moved out. After they moved I developed an autoimmune disorder that left me fatigued and house bound. My dog became my best friend. If something were to happen to him (and it will. Just how it works) my day-to-day life would be completely upended (and I’m dramatically understating that. It will be hell). So…some of you may think loving a pet is “less than” loving a child. It’s not. It’s just different.
Got it?
I think most of us agree that it’s different. We’re objecting to Charlize saying that her love for her child is NO different than her love for her pets. “Love is love.” It’s not. It’s different. I got it. 😉
This. spot on. Thank you so much for describing it so on point and effortlessly!
I agree with Kathy. Loving a pet is different, but not necessarily “less than” loving a child. People get so riled up about this, but I’m not religious, and I don’t believe that just because something is a different species, you can’t love it just as much. I can honestly say that I have felt greater love for dogs I’ve had at various points than many family members. That said, I don’t think some human beings are capable of similar feelings or even understanding this.
She’d know, she has sex with Sean Penn. Obviously interspecies difference isn’t an issue for her.