Charlize Theron usually does a good job of staying out of the tabloids. She works consistently and seems to have the respect of her peers. Her nine-year relationship with Irish actor Stuart Townsend seems solid (though there is the odd whiff of trouble every six months or so). Her politics are pretty basic – she seems like a pretty solid Democrat, and her biggest cause seems to be gay rights and gay marriage, the struggle for which she has compared to apartheid. Her interviews are usually pretty innocuous – her most recent Vogue interview included revelations like “I just know I’m going to have five boys” and “Stuart and I been together for almost nine years, so by now we’ve kind of realized that we’re going to take this journey together.” So it’s pretty weird that a report would come out featuring some less-than-perfect story of Charlize. This story involves Charlize spanking a random stranger, and Stuart getting pissy:

Although we’re not sure what the custom is in Charlize Theron’s native South Africa, there is still a universal code for what’s acceptable when it comes to slap and tickle with other guys.

Just ask her beau Stuart Townsend, who stormed out of West Hollywood’s Crown Bar on Friday night with the blonde after she got a bit rowdy with a bystander.

The couple, attending an anniversary party, were hitting a bottle of bubbly all evening until one onlooker tells RadarOnline.com that Theron got a little hands-on with a nearby dude.

“She leaned over the table and smacked some other guys ass,” an eyewitness tells us. “Stuart looked pissed, and looked at her and said ‘Why did you do that?’”

Clearly she didn’t have a satisfactory answer, as our onlooker tells us the couple bickered all evening before heading out.

“They constantly fought the rest of the night together, and ended up leaving the party early in a big huff,” said the spy.

[From Radar]

Will this get blown up like a few previous reports, and become something like “Oh my God they’re breaking up because she spanked a stranger!” While that would be hilarious, I doubt it. But the hell is Charlize doing spanking random strangers? Was she drunk? Was she high? Charlize is a girl who enjoys having a good time, and I could see how some sort of drunken horseplay would get out of hand (so to speak). Why did Stuart get upset? Did she promise to only spank him… in private? Oh… I wish I knew.

Charlize Theron is shown out walking her dogs on the beach in Malibu on 8/16/09. She’s also shown with Stuart at an event on 11/20/08. Credit: Fame Pictures

Charlize Theron is more interesting than people give her credit for. I’ve even fallen into that trap of thinking she was pretty boring and bland, but when she sits down for an in-depth interview, she’s actually quite witty and funny. Such is the case for the cover interview for September’s Vogue Magazine. First, the cover shot – I like it. It’s not overdone, it’s not over-styled. Just a beautiful woman in what looks like an interesting, pretty dress that compliments her. Maybe it’s not high fashion, but it looks good. Inside, the photo spread is set at Georgia O’Keefe’s desert Ghost Ranch, and several of the photos contain familiar homages to O’Keefe, like cow skulls and desert flowers. Charlize looks regal and lovely.

As for the interview, most of it is about Charlize’s work, both past and present. Unfortunately, she doesn’t talk that much about Stuart Townsend, her lover of nine years. The whole piece is worth a read, but here are some of the best parts:

On “mystery”: “I feel like I always reveal too much…There’s something sexy about the mystery. I don’t know how to play that card, though.”

On nude scenes: “That isn’t about me. I don’t look at the movie and go, ‘Jesus, my ass is really saggy’.”

On children: “I just know I’m going to have five boys.”

On the old gay rumors: “I cut my hair really short in my 20s, and people were like, ‘Hmm, wait a second. Is she gay?’”

On long-time love Suart Townsend: When she gets a call from Stuart Townsend, the Irish actor to whom she is famously not married (“We’ve been together for almost nine years, so by now we’ve kind of realized that we’re going to take this journey together”), she teases him about never drinking at lunch. She listens, laughs, and interrupts their conversation. “He’s like, ‘I don’t drink much, but when I drink, I drink a lot.’” She returns to him and says, “Keep that Irish thing going.”

Charlize’s Africa Outreach project: The project focuses on equipping trailers with computers and mobile health clinics, which then travel continuously through remote parts of South Africa, where teenagers have a nearly 50 percent chance of contracting HIV during their lifetime.

Fall films: In October, Theron plays “Wife” in the long-awaited film version of The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy’s best seller about a father and son struggling to survive after an unexplained apocalypse. Her role took three days to shoot, she says, and the character dies soon after the off-screen Armageddon, but she appears throughout the film, in flashbacks, an involuntary vision of beauty and the impossibility of hope. And this month she stars in The Burning Plain as Sylvia, a sexual compulsive whose secrets lie at the heart of a multigenerational love story. The story takes place on both sides of the Mexican-U.S. border, and the production reflected that: The Mexican director, Guillermo Arriaga, who also wrote Babel, conceived of the movie with Theron in mind; she helped produce it.

On her mother killing Charlize’s abusive, alcoholic father: “My trauma… That became like my f-cking tattoo.”

Charlize’s fears: She’s afraid of flying… She’s afraid of growing old and being alone. She’s afraid of insulting people. She feels like she’s shadowed constantly by a sense of remorse for some inappropriate thing she’s just said. (“People tell me that cocaine makes you feel superhuman and you’ll say anything. Then when you come down like all of a sudden you have guilt,” she says. “But I have that feeling innately, even without the cocaine.”)

[From Vogue]

Last month, there were several reports that had Charlize being hospitalized for something severe. Many claimed she was suffering “severe abdominal pains” and had caught some sort of intense virus. Others claimed she had a case of food poisoning. The incident goes unmentioned in the Vogue interview, either because it never happened, or it did happen, but just after the interview took place. In any case, it seems like whatever she was going through is over and she’s fine. As far as her upcoming films go – well, I don’t really want to see either of them. They sound totally depressing. Would it kill her to do a rom-com?

Pictures thanks to ONTD.

Charlize Theron is the picture of perfection on the red carpet, but according to Star, she is a slob at home, and it drives boyfriend Stuart Townsend crazy. To keep the house clean, he’s had to resort to assigning her chores.

“He was frustrated that the house always looks like a tornado hit it whenever he’s been away, so he created a chore list, and posts it on the refrigerator every day,” says an insider.

[From Star, print edition, August 11, 2008]

She even gets rewards for cleaning. If she makes the bed and cleans up after herself, she gets a day off, and Stuart will make her favorite breakfast of corned beef hash, roasted potatoes and bacon.

“They butt heads sometimes, especially over keeping the house tidy,” says the source, “but Charlize appreciates that Stu is so solution-oriented.”

[From Star, print edition, August 11, 2008]

Somehow I doubt she “appreciates” his solution-orientation while he’s nagging her to do dishes or pick up her dirty clothes, but the two of them must be doing something right — they’ve been together seven years.

Judging by Charlize’s svelte figure, she doesn’t get her favorite breakfast too often, unless she’s working off all those calories with lots of assigned chores.

Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend are shown at the LA Premiere of Hancock on 6/30/08. Credit: Juan Rico/Fame Pictures

Stuart Townsend, Charlize Theron’s longtime boyfriend, is publicly calling her his wife, and the two both have rings on their left ring fingers. Townsend tells People that the two are married, even though they haven’t gone through a religious or civil service.

“‘I’m married,’ Townsend told People this week. ‘I didn’t do a church wedding or anything, but we’re married. We’re husband and wife. We love each other and we want to spend our lives together,’ the 34-year-old actor said about his nearly seven-year relationship with Theron, 32, who he calls ‘the greatest woman I’ve ever met.’

“‘We didn’t have a ceremony,’ he added. ‘I don’t need a certificate or the state or the church to say otherwise. So no there’s no big official story on a wedding, but we are married. … I consider her my wife and she considers me her husband.’

[From People]

So I guess all those breakup rumors were crap. If it’s true, that’s great, though without confirmation of some sort from Charlize, there’s the possibility that Townsend is delusional. It’s sorta weird that he said “I’m married” instead of “We’re married” but whatever. The two have been working on Townsend’s film “Battle in Seattle” about the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle in 1999. Townsend wrote and directed the film, and Theron has a starring role.

“During a dinner party at The Supper Club, the couple even showed off their rings – Theron fidgeted with hers as she shared a story about it and then grabbed Townsend’s hand to display a silver cross-shaped band on his ring finger.

“‘It was really amazing tonight to premiere the film with her,’ Townsend said. ‘She’s proud and she was crying, so it’s as important to her as it’s important to me. We’re a team and we’re in this together. That’s what you do. You look out for each other.’”

[From People]

It sounds legitimately true. Charlize doesn’t seem like someone who just randomly wears rings on her left ring finger to get gossip buzzing (ahem, Britney Spears). They’ve been dating long enough that one could assume they’ve made some kind of commitment to one another. There’s a lot of famous couples that have made life-long commitments to each other without formalizing the agreement. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins come to mind, though I don’t believe they refer to each other as husband and wife. There’s certainly countless non-celebrities that do it. I guess Stuart Townsend is saying he and Charlize are married in their hearts, so congratulations. I’d send you something, but I’m guessing you didn’t formalize things by registering, either.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Charlize and Stuart (with a ring visible, if you squint hard enough) at the “In the Valley of Elah” premiere on September 13th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Charlize Theron sported darker hair and is still wearing that engagement ring we first spotted back in late April. A new interview from Scotland, where she has been attending the Edinburgh film festival, calls her boyfriend of four years, Irish actor Stuart Townsend, her fiance. It’s stated in a matter-of-fact manner despite the fact that this news hasn’t been announced:

Theron’s engagement has been under the radar in Hollywood, although she wore a ring on ther left ring finger to the opening of Club Social Hollywood in late June and may be waiting for the press to pick up on it.

She is producing and starring in a new film about Cuban music artists, her first in over two years. She quipped on stage at the Edinburgh film festival that she was moving to Scotland, as she was surprised that they gave her whisky to drink during a press conference.

Since wer’re the first ones to spot this we’re calling it a sort-of exclusive.

Here is Theron at the film festival on August 17, 18, and 19th. [via]