Charlize Theron has attacked societal attitudes to women and ageing, telling GQ magazine that the common perception is that “women wilt and men age like fine wine”.
“It would be a lie to say there is less worry for women as they get older than there is for men,” she said. “It feels there’s this unrealistic standard of what a woman is supposed to look like when she’s over 40”.
The South African actor has actively campaigned for women to receive the same wages as men since leaked emails from the 2014 Sony hacks revealed a large disparity in Hollywood pay packets between genders. Theron, who is currently promoting Snow White and the Huntsman prequel The Huntsman: Winter’s War, made equal pay between her and her co-star, Chris Hemsworth, a condition of returning to the role of the evil Queen Ravenna. Both were paid over $10m (£7m) for their work.
Theron, a former model who won an Oscar for playing the serial killer Aileen Wournos in Monster, also told GQ that she had found her looks an impediment to being offered interesting parts.
“Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them and that’s the end of the story,” she said. “How many roles are out there for the gorgeous, f***ing, gown-wearing eight-foot model?”
Her comments, which arrived as another study reported the slow progress of equality in Hollywood, were re-reported by the Daily Mail, which made reference to her “stunning looks” in conjunction with a criticism of “the notoriously ageist and sexist world of Hollywood”. The Sun ran the same quotes under the headline “Charlize Theron dons little black dress”.
Theron also recently announced that she would reunite with her Young Adult collaborators, director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, for a film about parenting. The actor won a Golden Globe for her performance in Young Adult, in which she plays an author of books for teenagers who sets off to spoil the relationship of an ex-boyfriend so that she can have him for herself.
