Charlize Theron again discussed on the podcast “Call Her Daddy” a sexual harassment allegation she first revealed in 2019 on “The Howard Stern Show.” Theron said that a director — whose name she would not reveal — answered the door in his pajamas when she went over to his house on a Saturday night for an audition. She left after the man put “his hand on [her] knee.” Theron has long been vocal in the #MeToo movement, even starring in the 2020 explosive drama “Bombshell,” which concerned the takedown of alleged serial harasser Roger Ailes, the former CEO of Fox News.
In addressing why she has kept the filmmaker’s identity a secret, Theron told host Alex Cooper that she didn’t “want the story to be about him.”
“It’s not because I’m protecting him or anything,” Theron said (via Variety). “He got nervous for a little bit. He heard me tell the story and he knew it was about him, and he wrote me a pretend letter trying to explain his behavior and how I must have misunderstood it, which is classic, isn’t it? It’s so classic.”
In recalling the incident, Theron said it was clear that there was no intention to cast her in any role. “I was never going to get a part that night. I knew it as soon as I left. I wasn’t there because I had some value that I was going to bring to his movie. I was only valued for one thing,” she said.
The “Mad Max: Fury Road” star spoke directly to the man on the podcast, saying, “I won’t ever fucking say your name because you know you’re the scumbag. You know it’s you.” She also said that if any other performers ever asked her about the director, she would be “completely honest,” adding “and he knows that.”
“I kind of like that he’s got to be on a hot seat. He doesn’t know when it’s going to come. I kind of like that a little more,” Theron said. “I will not let a motherfucker fuck with me any day of the week.”
Theron’s latest project is “The Old Guard 2,” streaming now on Netflix. The sequel to the 2020 streaming hit finds her acting alongside another action legend, Uma Thurman. Next year, Theron will appear in writer/director Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated “The Odyssey,” which released its first poster earlier this week.