Charlize Theron insisted it’s “not brave” to gain weight for a role as she discussed playing mother-of-two Marlo in her latest film “Tully”.
The 42-year-old gained almost 50 pounds to play the part of the overwhelmed mom, but despite the high-calorie diet making her depressed, she insisted there’s nothing heroic about what she did.
Theron, who has two children of her own, Jackson, 6, and August, 2, told USA Today: “I know a lot of moms who feel like [c**p] because it takes that long and everybody’s expecting them to be back.
“Me gaining weight for the movie — it’s hard when somebody’s like, ‘Wow, that’s really brave!’ Moms do this all the time and we don’t call them brave. We’re like, ‘Why are you still carrying that baby weight?'”
The actress added that she’s determined to rally against “this highly curated Instagram world of, ‘Which mom looks best in her bikini two hours after giving birth?’
“I hate that that’s happened — everyone’s life looks cute when you throw a filter on it. So I’m taking this as an opportunity to show another side of things.”
Theron also spoke about playing the role during an appearance on Thursday’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”.
She said of why she agreed to do the movie: “There was something about it that just felt [like] something I haven’t read before… about the honesty of how messy it is to raise kids.
“I’ve had nights with my kids where I’m like, ‘Am I the only person who doesn’t know what to do right now?’ I think this film made me making it just not feel so alone in raising my kids. I hope that can happen for other parents out there.”
Theron also revealed she made out for the very first time after watching “Friday the 13th” and came clean about her cringe-worthy audition in front of Tom Hanks. See more in the clip above.
Catch “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, airing weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on Global; you can also watch full episodes online.
