Charlize Theron: ‘I’ve been single for 10 years… I’m shockingly available’

CinemaCon 2019 Big Screen Achievement Awards

Here are some photos of Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen at CinemaCon 2019, the Big Screen Achievement Awards. They were there to promote their latest film, Long Shot, where she plays a presidential candidate and he plays a sort of schlubby guy she used to know, and she hires him to be a speechwriter or something. It’s supposed to be a romantic comedy and judging from the first trailer, Charlize and Seth actually have a ton of chemistry and the story looks really cute. When Charlize was on the carpet, she was asked about romance in her own life, to which she was like “dude I haven’t had a boyfriend in a decade.”

Charlize Theron is looking to date but is only interested in those brave enough to ask. The 43-year-old actress spoke about her dating life to Entertainment Tonight while at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday. Theron, who was promoting her upcoming film Long Shot, admitted finding a date wasn’t as easy as it looked.

“I’ve been single for 10 years, it’s not a long shot,” Theron said. “Somebody just needs to grow a pair and step up.” She added, “I’m shockingly available.”

Her Long Shot costar Seth Rogen was on hand to agree, saying, “She’s out there!”

Theron replied, “I’ve made it very clear.”

[From People]

As we’ve discussed on a few of our Gossip with Celebitchy podcasts, one of the great gossip mysteries of the past decade is what went down between Charlize and Sean Penn. They dated from 2013 to June 2015. They broke up, clear as I can tell, because something major happened during the Cannes Film Festival or just after. The thing that happened was so big that Charlize immediately broke off their engagement and began ghosting Penn. And now she’s completely writing him out of the narrative of her romantic history too.

Back in January, people were trying to make Charlize + Brad Pitt happen, but it most seemed like a Breitling-watch-sponsored rumor. Charlize would be who I would choose for Brad, but I think the reality is that he’ll go for someone younger than Charlize.

CinemaCon 2019 Big Screen Achievement Awards

CinemaCon 2019 Big Screen Achievement Awards

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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79 Responses to “Charlize Theron: ‘I’ve been single for 10 years… I’m shockingly available’”

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  1. Booradley says:

    Charlize I am so available. hit me up on kik 😉

  2. Eleonor says:

    Once I was in a toxic relationship with a guy, a totally narcissistic a-hole. At the beginning everything was amazing, I don’t go into details, but awfult things happened, and we broke up. When I woke up from the dream I realized all the red lights were there, but he had totally gaslighted me, and when I started dating again I found myself not even mentioning him as a “my ex”, but the guy before him was my ex.
    I don’t know if this is re-writing, but I can totally get why she does that.

    • LivePlantsCleanAir says:

      I have a very very similar story…a guy I was with for about 6 months in total. Barely remember his name…..

  3. TheBees says:

    I heard that she is personality challenged, but who knows.

    • Mumzy says:

      If that means she has issues with asshat personalities I would vote yes in that survey.

    • Incredulous says:

      I, too, have heard from more than one person that shudders when they think of her. Did they mention her habit of talking about herself in the third person as well?

      • CheckThatPrivilege says:

        Ugh, anyone who speaks of themselves in the 3rd person is someone I’d run from. Self-confidence is a beautiful thing, but narcissism gets ugly fast.

      • minx says:

        I remember reading about a resort that had dealt with royalty, celebrities, all sorts of wealthy and entitled people. And the staff said she was the single most difficult customer they ever had. She threw tantrums, demanded staff not look her in the eye, shouted at people. I’ve never thought about her one way or another but that story has always stuck with me. And anyone who says men need to “grow a pair” and ask her out…ugh!

      • Rae says:

        Yes, that ‘grow a pair and step up’ comment got me too. So much to unpack. Like, it’ll always going to be a step ‘up’ to Charlize. Like, the only thing stopping the torrents of men is their struggle to be brave enough to approach such a Queen. Like, why can’t she ask someone out? If someone who looks like that is single for 10 years, the problem may not be the rest of the world… ya know…

    • megs283 says:

      ha, do you guys remember the SoulCycle story with Tia Mowry? “Oh my God.”

      • wenderwoman says:

        Shockingly? Because she’s so amazing? I think not. She always looks like she’s a cold, cold person,

  4. Alissa says:

    it’s really weird to me to erase a two year relationship where you were engaged, mainly because she’s famous so we all know she hasn’t been single for ten years haha. but I wouldn’t want to admit that I was into Sean Penn either.

    • Digital Unicorn says:

      Considering its Sean Penn, mega assh0le then this will be a massive dent to his entitled ego – so on that point alone I give her props. Penn is not a man who likes being ignored or to have no control. She ghosted him and then erased him from her history – love it.

  5. tempest prognosticator says:

    revisionist history

  6. Bee says:

    I’d pretend I didn’t date him too. Just press delete on past bad decisions.

  7. DS9 says:

    I don’t understand why anyone is shipping Charlize and Brad.

    She’s the survivor of domestic abuse and the mother of brown children who are also adopted.

    So what in the world makes sense about wanting her to be with a belligerent drunk who is on the outs with his own children, hald of which are brown and adopted.

    Surely she learned her lesson after dating Sean Penn’s drunk, belligerent ass.

    • Michel says:

      This. Thank you.

    • minx says:

      Yes! He can’t even get it together to manage his own children.

      • QuidProQuo says:

        Her narrative is off-putting. Why not just get happy w life without publicly challenging anyone to “dare approach the queen”. I like Charlize, but her statement reads narcissist w tough-girl masked desperation. She may need a romantic PR damage control team!

    • Tiff says:

      This x 1000

  8. Cara says:

    Yes, I’ve read several times what a nasty mean women she is.

    • jan90067 says:

      Didn’t she try and get a black actress dumped from a yoga or Soul Cycle gym because said actress deigned to say hello to her? From all the gossip I’ve read about Charlize, she is a beyotch to the nth degree.

      • Mia says:

        not sure if it was true or not but it was one of the twins from the show Sister, Sister. Tia or Tamara. Might be the sister on the talk show The Real.

    • raindrop says:

      I’ve heard that too, but a close friend of mine who worked on one of her movie sets also told me she was incredibly down-to-earth and friendly to the crew. So… who knows.

      • GenTer says:

        I met her when I worked in a boutique clothing store, when I was in college years ago. She was nice and very down to earth. We didn’t have some things in her size—she didn’t care and bought the bigger sizes. She also paid with her own card. (I know that’s a low bar!) She was with a friend and the friend called her “Chucky.” I’m sure she has times when she’s not nice—we all do. I think the label of “strong woman,” which is often how she’s identified, can be an under-handed way of saying she’s bitchy and/or difficult and, therefore, not how a “proper” woman should be—a.k.a. someone who knows what she wants.

      • Tomato says:

        She always came across as a reasonable type in her interviews (no entourage, down to earth, genuine and low key about her volunteer stuff for South Africa) though a bit ego-driven (oscar winner) and nothing wrong with that. I still like her but I’d believe she super prickly and demanding as a person.

  9. Lizz says:

    Someone who speaks of themselves as ‘shockingly’ available is all I need to know. When she was with Sean she was the happiest she had ever been, everyone told her so, had been planning to get together with him for years, etc. and now for whatever reason completely discounts the relationship. Maybe he had an issue with the way she is treating her son, who knows ? Good luck finding a man worth his salt that accepts it. High maintenance doesn’t begin to describe her.

    • Everley says:

      She even said he was the love of her life. THAT Sean Penn?

    • SK says:

      How does she treat her son? I’ve never seen anything that wasn’t normal or positive?

      • J. says:

        She allows him/her to dress as a girl and I believe addresses him/her as a girl now.

        Using split pronouns because I’m unsure of the exact situation.

      • SK says:

        Thanks for explaining! I admit I had forgotten that.

        If that is what her child wants to do and feels comfortable doing, what is wrong with that? As long as she isn’t giving her child hormone treatments against medical advice (as happened to a family I know whose mother gave hormone treatments illegally too young to her son who later changed his mind and wanted to be male again but has effectively been chemically castrated and is now halfway between genders) then I don’t see anything wrong with this. Or is the suggestion merely that Penn didn’t agree?

      • J. says:

        I don’t see anything wrong with letting children experiment with gender presentation either, so long as it’s their choice and they feel free to switch back and forth as they desire, should they change their mind, and nothing permanent is done early on.

        But given Lizz’s gross “Good luck finding a man worth his salt that accepts it” statement, I am sure this is what she’s referring to.

      • Lizz says:

        Publicly labeling your child a gender different from their apparent biological one is fairly permanent. The kid is obviously ‘choosing’ to be a girl to please his mother. I’m not implying her planning to raise him cross gender had anything necessarily to do with her break with Sean but it is obviously going to be an issue with most normal men.

    • Rebecca says:

      There were a lot of rumors that he cheated on her with a stunt double. If I remember right, it was Charlize’s stunt double. I think their relationship ended because of him, not her.

  10. Svea says:

    Was Sean Penn really ten years ago?
    Ha Ha No. She just publicly erased him.

  11. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    There’s a reason she’s ‘shockingly’ available. It’s because she thinks her availability is shocking.

    • Eva says:

      I think she was being self-deprecating and meant that the level in which she was available was ’shocking’, meaning extremely high.

      • Shannon says:

        Honestly, that’s how I took it @Eva

      • SK says:

        Yeah that’s how I understood it – that the degree to which she is out there and available and ready to date is really high. That she is in no way unattainable. She is good to go!

      • CuriousCole says:

        @Eva that’s exactly how I read it too.

  12. Monicack says:

    I loved her in Atomic Blonde. She could get it.

  13. Sean says:

    Here’s a thought, why doesn’t she “she grow a pair and step up”? Women are capable of asking men out. She sounds incredibly self-important.

    • Bettyrose says:

      Yeah that bugged me. I don’t really have thoughts on her, but that comment says she wants to be pursued. Which is fine, hey that’s flattering, but put some elbow grease into it. Make the first move and let him ask for the second date.

  14. Lizz says:

    Her statements in interviews are all over the place. It is either how perfect my life is all the time or how I am struggling to be happy every day and may require therapy. I am not unsympathetic to her past but there can be no ‘shock’ to anyone on the outside why Charlize is still single after all these, 5 or 6, years.

    • SK says:

      Being honest about sometimes needing therapy isn’t a flashing red light and a reason to still be single. I know loads of people who have therapy and are in relationships. People who have found someone whilst in therapy. People who sometimes feel life is great and sometimes feel down and are not single.

  15. Sam says:

    What about Keanu Reeves?

    • Maya says:

      Hell no, My Keanu deserves someone way better that this mean horrible woman.

      • Kebbie says:

        They’ve been good friends for a long time. He obviously doesn’t think she’s a mean horrible woman.

    • Jerusha says:

      No.

    • Kebbie says:

      There have been rumors of them dating before. After she and Stuart broke up, they went on a date or a friendly dinner. They were hugging and then got all awkward when they realized paparazzi were taking pictures.

  16. Miss M says:

    I don’t know what to think of it.
    She had a long term relationship with Townsend. Then, after a holiday in Mexico they broke up. If I recall correctly they didnt want kids? His next relationship he had 2 kids and in the past few years she adopted. In the meantime, she dated Sean Penn made love declarations that I knew was going to bite her in the @s$. I give props to her for ghosting him.
    If we take her word literally, she is saying she’s been single since 2009 when in fact she was still with Stuart Townsend. So, did she throw only Penn under the bus?! Is she saying that her relationship with Townsend was over long before it was over?
    When will she realize she is the common denominator of her relationships?!

    • Lizz says:

      She did say that she and Sean had been trying to get together for years (since when she was with Stuart). Presumably waiting for his divorce and then to come back from Haiti….These constant string of dramatic comments and bizarre actions are only making a bad situation that much worse.

      • Miss M says:

        Interesting, Lizz. Stuart and Charlize ended in Jan 2010. Penn’s divorce from Robin initiated in 2009 and concluded in July 2010. But Charlize and Penn’s relationship started in 2013. So either they started in 2010 and made official in 2013 or something happened that they waited 3 years to start dating. Did she wait Stuart to start a relationship (2013) to announce hers with Penn? The ghosting makes it even more interesting when we look at the timeline.

      • Kebbie says:

        He dated Scarlett Johansson in the interim, so he wasn’t trying too hard to date Charlize.

    • Lizz says:

      Charlize did say that what she loved most about Sean was his humanitarian work so I’m betting that what he was doing in Haiti the first 2-3 years after the quake there was what officially put the decision over the top for her. Don’t know about the ghosting since she denied it and (so far) there is no evidence to the contrary.

    • SK says:

      I think people are overthinking an exaggeration for dramatic effect. “I’ve been single forever!!!” Doesn’t actually mean forever. It might feel like ten years to her when it’s been much much less.

      • Miss M says:

        She gave an specific time. Don’t tell me she didn’t know what she was doing.
        On a different, Stuart is single again and he said to paparazzi you are amazing, Charlize…

  17. livealot says:

    I love this look and dress

  18. Rhys says:

    Our (Western) society makes it strange and difficult for anyone to be alone. My take on the whole “single” thing is that we do not live our live from one relationship to another. I do not care if she is a nice person, a damaged person or an a$$hole – so are millions of people who ARE in a relationship. Being single is just another way of being.

  19. Caty Page says:

    @Rhys, what society makes it easy to be a single woman and how much are flights to get there? Asking for a friend.

  20. Tiff says:

    I too have selectively “forgotten” about relationships in the past. Like they didn’t exist forgotten. I get it.
    Also… Charlize deserves better than Brad. He’s old and gross and petty and Sean Penn without the ham face. She deserves Angelina not Brad.

  21. AppleTartin says:

    Welcome to your 40’s Charlize when money and fame can’t stop the invisibility cloak from happening to women.

    • Boodiba says:

      +1,000,000 At least she’s not dead broke and over 50 (like me) b/c then you also have an aggressively repellent force that directs itself toward all hiring gatekeepers.

  22. SJR says:

    Anyone using the phrase “grow a pair” and ask me out…Nope.

    #1. Welcome to being 40+, female, single, with children. Start getting used to being on your own CT. I don’t care how rich or beautiful she is, her peer group of single men are going to be hitting their mid-life crisis period, and especially in Hollywood, the majority of men are going to date younger, easier to manipulate women. These younger women will arrange the schedules/lives/activities to hold onto the wealthy men. Also, Hollywood romances are notorious for working well when only one partner is the celeb. 2 egos/careers are more difficult.

    #2. CT is a grown woman, she is able to ask a man out. That damsel who must be pursued because she is “the prize” is BS and way out of date.

    #3. Shockingly available? Geez, big Ego there. No it’s not shocking that you are single, it happens to tons of people. Every day.
    I do not think that CT would accept a date from a non celeb, everyday Joe type guy. She strikes me as very difficult to be involved with.
    And, I do not want her with Keanu. I love him, I think he deserves a lovely, gentle, easy going partner. I will say it…she is not good enough for him. There.

    • Laura says:

      Her statement, “Grow a pair” was extremely disrespectful and out of place. Women are just as strong and independent as men and can be the ones asking out. Women have to take action and pursue the man as well. It goes both ways.

    • Clay says:

      yes to all the above!

    • ladytron2000 says:

      *APPLAUDS*

  23. MangoAngel says:

    I think her availability is “shocking” only to her. She seems like an incredibly high-maintenance piece of work, albeit one who is convinced she’s not like other girls, she’s a cool girl who’s better at hanging with boys.

    • Londongal says:

      100% this. I understand totally a bad relationship and break-up. But erasing an ex fiancée when we all know you were together feels so petty.

  24. Tai says:

    I think she is the person on Blind Gossip who had the lower face lift and now has the “joker smile”. Its not as bad as Meg Ryan’s but it’s there. Leave your face alone! It’s beautiful and you are going to get older and it will change. Accept it and stop the PS.

  25. Lens horne says:

    Women àre only invisible if they choose to be

  26. J. says:

    I absolutely love her so I’m biased and can’t be trusted, but I like that she’s rewriting her history with Penn. Just not even acknowledging his existence – what a badass.

  27. Clay says:

    I found really interesting her choice of words. If there’s something that we can’t say about Charlize is that she’s sloppy in interviews. She’s extremely careful and calculated about what she says, particularly about her personal life. So I think she wanted this message out and she knew exactly what the headline would be. If she didn’t ghost Penn back then, as she says she did, she’s clearly trying to erase him completely from her track record.

    As for what happened between them and what went down at Cannes or after it, I agree on this with Lainey: Penn and Charlize went public as a couple just weeks after Robin Wright got engaged to Ben Foster. Penn put Charlize as the lead of a movie that Robin wanted to make for a longtime, unsuccessfully. Penn keep badmouthing Robin in interviews in a really petty, angry way, even while he was dating Charlize. Robin broke up with Foster around May 2015. Penn and Charlize broke up shortly after. Not to mention the physical resemblance between Robin and Charlize and the same “ice queen” vibe. Coincidences? That’d be a LOT of coincidences. And if they were just coincidences, I can see how a woman with such a huge ego like Charlize must find them pretty annoying. Why her fiancè was still so obsessively mad at his ex wife?

  28. BANANIE says:

    In the audio clip I heard, I’m pretty sure Seth Rogen initially says “she’s shockingly available” and laughs, and then Charlize repeats it.

  29. Grant says:

    For what it’s worth, my friend is a PA in LA and worked with Charlize. She said she was more less delightful to work with.

  30. Lizz says:

    Charlize sounds more hurt than angry honestly. And Sean has also acknowledged being seriously depressed during the making of the movie until late summer/ fall of 2015 which led to a lot of formerly close friends starting to hate him. The only difference is he talked about it appropriately — in a low key, print interview without naming names that limited its overall impact.