Charlize Theron's aunt disputes the star's account of her Father's shooting

[Honey]

When the young Charlize Theron heard her alcoholic father shouting and swearing at her mother outside their home, she barely bothered to listen. His rants were, after all, not unusual.



But seconds later her father Charles lay dead after her mother Gerda blasted him four times with a gun.

Oscar winner Charlize has always maintained that her mother acted in self defence after her husband had threatened to kill them both with a shotgun.


But a new book, Killer Women: Fatal South African Females, casts doubt on what really happened 16 years ago at the family's home in the Western Cape.

The Hollywood star, just 15 at the time, has refused to talk publicly about the traumatic event, except to say that Gerda was a victim of domestic abuse.
Charles, they told police, was violent and aggressive.

Now, in the book by South African crime writer Chris Karsten, Charlize's aunt Elsa Malan insists her "mildmannered" brother would never have attacked his wife or adored daughter.
But she stops short of saying that Charles was murdered. Scroll down for more...
Dazzling: A teenage Charlize models in South Africa, just before she left for Hollywood




Charlize, 31, whose latest movie, In The Valley Of Elah, opens this month, is said to be furious that members of her father's family have broken years of silence to talk about the killing.

The book also reveals how Charlize's police statement "went missing" soon after she won a Best Actress Oscar in 2004 for her role in the film Monster, as a prostitute who became a serial killer.
It has now resurfaced after investigations by Karsten.

Elsa knows she may pay a heavy price for trying to clear her brother's name. She and her 77-year-old mother Bettie say that Gerda has threatened them with legal action if they speak out.

"I don't care about that any more," said Elsa last night. Scroll down for more...
Family trauma: Charlize with her parents Charles and Gerda



"We want to set the record straight. All those perceptions that Charles was some kind of a monster-at home were very hurtful to our family and everyone who knew him. He was a dedicated family man. His wife and daughter were the most important things in his life."

She recalls a "benign and mild-mannered man" who "could never lift his hand in anger to anyone. Gerda, on the other hand, was more of an introvert.
"She could be testy and grumpy and never hesitated to speak her mind.

"Charles always knew when he overstepped the mark with her and then he would meekly try to patch things up.
"As for his so-called alcoholism, we all know that he loved his drink but I never saw him drunk."

Elsa concedes there was considerable friction between Charles and his wife. Scroll down for more...
A young Charlize makes friends with a chimpanzee



"Their marriage had been rocky for years. I remember asking Gerda at church, shortly before the shooting, why she hadn't opted for a divorce rather than live in an unhappy marriage.
"She said she couldn't do it for Charlize's sake."

It was the ambitious Gerda who pushed her beautiful daughter into modelling, setting her on the road to Hollywood. They remain very close.

In her account of the shooting, the young Charlize told detectives she heard her father swearing and shouting at her mother to let him into the house. Scroll down for more...
Daddy's girl: In pictures previously unpublished, the young Charlize enjoys a day at the beach with her father Charles - a 'dedicated family man' says his sister




Her statement reads: "My father said he would kill us with his shotgun. My mom said she was afraid that he really would kill us.
"The next moment I heard a number of shots being fired. I don't know how many, and then I heard my mom screaming hysterically.
"When I went into the passage, I saw my father's brother, Danie Theron.

"My mother was sitting in a corner of the bedroom crying and she said, 'Charlize, I've shot them. I've shot them.' I can only state that my mother had not had any alcohol at any stage. She was sober."

Gerda told police her drunk and aggressive husband had threatened to shoot her and Charlize.
"I simply started firing at him. I don't know how many times. I saw him fall. When I turned around I saw his brother behind me and instinctively I fired another shot in his direction. His brother fell down." Scroll down for more...
Charlize won an Oscar for her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos in Monster



Elsa was the first person to arrive at the bloody scene, where she found Charles lying on his stomach.
His glasses were broken and he was still breathing. Gerda stood in the kitchen in her nightdress. Charlize was weeping under a blanket.

Danie, who had fled the house after suffering a hand wound, would later claim Gerda had shot Charles in the back as he lay on the floor.

The official cause of death was "bleeding due to gunshot wounds to upper body and arm".
No charges were ever brought against Gerda.


But for Elsa, several critical questions have yet to be answered.
"If Charles was on his way to get the shotgun in the gun safe in their main bedroom, as Gerda claimed, why was his body found next to the bed near the entrance to their en suite bathroom? He was walking past the safe towards the bathroom when he was shot," she said.
"Also, when his clothes were returned to me after the autopsy, I discovered the keys to the safe in his pockets. Would he not have had the keys in his hand if he'd planned to retrieve the shotgun?"
She said that although the family was angry that Gerda was never charged with the shooting, they had not pushed for the case to be reopened because of Charlize.

"Gerda killed my eldest brother and wounded another brother, and she walked free. We would have liked some kind of justice, but we were very worried about Charlize.
"She lost a father at 15 and we were thinking she shouldn't lose a mother as well. She had been through a lot of trauma at that young age."
Indeed for many years the actress, who went to live in America when she was 17, claimed that her father had died in a car accident.
When news of the shooting dramatically broke three years ago, Charlize initially said he had been physically violent when drunk but later claimed that he had only ever been verbally abusive.

Yet even this has been disputed by the Theron family's frail matriarch, Bettie, who is slowly losing her battle against cancer.
In her statement to police at the time, she said her son "had always been Gerda's subordinate and described her daughter-in-law as "hot-tempered", "outspoken" and even accusing her of being violent towards Charles.

"My son was never, as far as I know, violent towards her. She, on the other hand, was very violent towards him," said Bettie.


The family also dispute Charlize's claim that he left them bankrupt, pointing out that the business he and Gerda built up together, leasing earth- moving machinery, was highly successful.
"She [Gerda] and Charlize inherited millions from Charles," said Bettie.

Bettie, who has not seen Charlize for more than a decade, holds no grudge against her granddaughter.
"I dream that we will be together again after all these years," she said.
"She is still my little girl. It doesn't matter to me whether she is famous or completely unknown. She is my last link with Charles."
Bettie has written several letters to Charlize but has never had a reply.
"Things were never the same after that dark night. I still mourn my son's death and I grieve for my famous granddaughter who refuses to know me," she said.

"Charles worshipped Charlize but since the shooting she has never had a good word for him. Gerda always treated our family as white trash.
"She had nothing but bad things to say about my son. She really turned that poor child against me."

Elsa said her mother never got over the double blow of her son's death and losing contact with her granddaughter.
"Grandma Bettie takes it very hard that her famous grandchild wants nothing to do with her," she said. Killer Women: Fatal South African Females, by Chris Karsten, is published by Human & Rousseau

My brother was not a monster: Charlize Theron's aunt disputes the star's account of his shooting and pleads 'why won't she speak to her dying grandmother?' | the Daily Mail

[HelpMeRhonda]

Holy crap that first pic doesn't even look like her...Or is it just me?

[JerriBlank]

wow i would've never guessed that first shot with the water was her...

[Daphne]

Holy crap that first pic doesn't even look like her...Or is it just me?

No, it's not just you. I would have never guessed they were the same person.

[sparkly]

I didn't know that Charlize changed her story a couple of times about her abusive father. She said he physically abused her, then recanted that. Hmmm... I don't want to know.

[yoyoma]

^Me neither. There has been a lot of speculation in the past but they have been
able to keep it from surfacing or making headlines.

[Palermo]

Nobody who wasn't in that house would really know the things that go on behind closed doors

[Rogue]

Meh, my father's family have the same story; he loved us and would never raise a hand, I've been brain washed by my mother. Of course his family will say that, they love him and weren't beaten by him.

[theronized]

Just in case anybody actually believes that first photo is her...it's not.

Come on... every single feature is different in that photo. I have photos of her when she's younger and she definitely did not look like that.

[Novice]

Meh, my father's family have the same story; he loved us and would never raise a hand, I've been brain washed by my mother. Of course his family will say that, they love him and weren't beaten by him.

Ditto! (In that my ex's family would never believe what he tried to do, they thought he "slapped me" because thats what he told them.... WTF? Even he couldn't live with himself after he tried to kill me) Oh and apparently I spoke "harshly" to him all the time.... according to his friends.

[january]

Holy crap that first pic doesn't even look like her...Or is it just me?

Nope, its not just you. None of her early modeling pictures look even close to her. She's had alot of work done. TOO much lately, her nose looks way too pinched.

[Trixie]

Wow, I agree that pic looks nothing like her at all. Weird, because I did recognize her from the other childhood pics.

Re her father...Charlize was old enough to see what was going on in her household, so I doubt anyone turned her against her father or his family. She and her mother have always seemed very devoted to each other. Can anyone blame them for not wanting to make this story public?

Of course her father's family doesn't want to believe he was abusive and of course they just can't resist talking to the press. And they wonder why the mother thinks they're white trash?

[sharon_b]

I agree with everyone here the first picture looks NOTHING like her, i'm not sure if it is even Charlize but she does look cute in the picture with the monkey.

[Sarzy]

That cant be her in the first pic, surely? The younger photos look like she does now but that teenage one looks nothing like her. I thought a telling thing the aunt said was that she never saw him drunk. Well if she never saw him drunk then surely she wouldn't know what a monster he could turn into when drunk? Anyway no-one but Charlize and her mother know the truth.

[Bijoux]

That first pic really dosn't look anything like her.

How much crap has she had done to her face?