never seen her before. >> that's very good. >> do you know how many times i dreampt of having a taco and beer with you? this is "piers morgan tonight." let's start with the obvious question, how do you actually pronounce your name? >> charlize theron. it's what i thought would be easiest for people. >> what is the african way of pronouncing it? >> charlize theron. >> i much prefer that. say it again. >> charlize theron. >> you were raised south african and came to l.a. with a broad accent. you quite consciously went and taught yourself how to speak in an american accent, right? >> yeah, i mean, look, i was pushed into a corner. i started going out on auditions. the feedback is she's great but can she do it in an american accent? my english was poor. i make a lot of grammar mistakes. my mother lives two minutes away. >> she speak african to her? >> yeah. >> speak african to me. >> well, i mean -- [ speaking foreign language ] >> wow, i didn't know you fancied me. that's amazing. that's incredible. you speak it fluently? >> i think more fluently than i speak english. >> well, miss theron, woody told w magazine charlize is not a delicate girl, talented and able to tell more vulgar jokes than you and able to drink you under the table. >> none of this -- >> truth as charged? >> there's no truth to it. >> i can't imagine you being vulgar. >> i'm not vulgar, i would not say that. i was raised by a broad and some of that rubbed off. i'm grateful for that. will smith one day said, what i like about you, chuck, is that you are like from the white house to the ghetto. i thought that was one of the best compliments given to me. >> that's a great phrase. >> i don't think -- >> he calls you chuck? >> yeah. >> it's getting ever more complicated. you are going to have to restate your name now. you can't have americans calling you chuck. they'll call everybody chuck if you give them a chance. >> i love working with woody and we did a film together that was a true story of this very important sexual class action sexual harassment case that took place in minnesota. it was heavy material and -- >> don't we all -- that's how we like it. you can play conventional pretty blond stuff until you are 108. actually -- >> no, actually you can't do that. that's why i chose this career. i want to work until i'm 108. i don't think you can have longevity if you fall back on one aspect. >> you choose challenging roles, they are always quite edgy and dangerous. you take risks. i like that about you. it's never safe. >> i don't think human beings are -- i think we are pretty complicated. i do think there's a lack of interest and willingness to explore the kind of not so attractive side of what it is to be a woman. the fact that we don't want to necessarily, as a society celebrate the fact we are complex and we are, you know, we are flawed. not all of us are perfect mothers and not all of us are perfect wives. we are complex. i felt that when monster came to me, the thing that was clear to me is it read like something de niro would get or a guy would play this conflicted character. few times in my career have i been given the opportunity of the female that represents the conflict and is evident in who we are. >> what flaws do you have? >> i have no flaws. i'm speaking of other women. i'm not talking about myself. i'm perfect. >> let's get you on the therapist couch. >> oh, god, what is this, an hour show? i think we need another few hours. the great thing about ageing has been the acknowledgement of my flaws. i think it's given me a sense of peace. so, so far, i'm loving the ageing process. that kind of wisdom of like, understanding why you sometimes do that crap that you do, behave -- >> do you really love the ageing process? >> so far, i said. i said so far. >> it's obviously treating you quite well. >> look, i'm only 35, my god. we're talking about this like i'm -- >> you mentioned the ageing process. >> i'm only 35. i consider that pretty young. >> you haven't spilled any flaws yet. >> if you have to, if you want to cover this. i suffer from a bit of ocd. >> i know about this. closets have to be perfect. >> i'm a bit compulsive. >> you stay awake at night worrying that someone's closet -- >> i have a thing about things that are hidden. yeah, i have a hard time when i'm renting a house, if i'm working on a film. i have to know what's in all the closets. this is so pathetic. i cannot believe we are talking about this. >> this is weird. this is great. you get to random houses and what do you do? >> i inspect every closet and drawer. >> fantastic. >> then i have a, like a -- it's just my organization items. it's kind of how my head works. i have to put things where i think they belong in a room so i have access to them. this is pathetic. this is so bad. stop talking about it. i'm single, i need to find a man. >> this is not going to help. >> this is not going to help. >> guys are going to say who is this weirdo. devils advocate. let's have a clip. watch this. >> you know, you buy a couple and you are fine. >> it's a little more than that. >> i know we have all this that's supposed to be fun, but it's not. it's like attached. the whole thing is like one big test. >> fascinating watching you. i know you don't like watching yourself, do you? >> um -- i have gotten a lot better. since i have been producing, i am better with it. i hate my voice, the way i sound. that was the hardest -- >> that's not your real voice. that's the problem. >> maybe. but since i have become a producer and had to, you know, sit in editing rooms and watch footage cut together, i think i have gotten better to take myself out of it and look at it as making a film and you kind of take all that weight off yourself. it's been really great for me as an actor. >> you bring incredible intensity to this stuff. you scare the life out of me. i'm watching it from here. you are like a raging volcano in some of these parts. >> a raging volcano who likes to clean. >> yes. the most weird type of raging volcano. >> um -- that film, taylor hackford, the director of the film cast me after several screen tests and auditions. the studio didn't want me. the studio thought i was too pretty and taylor fought for me. he really fought for me. he's very much an actor's director. i really kind of have to thank him. every moment on that set, i never felt like i was treated like an actor who didn't know anything. he gave me a stage where i could be a raging maniac. >> do you know how much money you have taken at the box office? >> god, no. >> $800 million. >> wow. >> from 26 movies. >> wow. that sounds good. >> you're the billion dollar woman. >> i don't pay that much attention to that. >> you don't care how much they make? >> i care. i want people to go see my movies. i'm not an actor -- >> if i could offer you a choice, you could be a lead actress in a movie that's going to make $800 million in two months but be critically hammered, everyone is going to hate you. >> that's not the reason i would choose it. >> you could have one of two scenarios or put you in a movie in which you win awards for your acting but it completely bombs at the box office. which would you prefer at this stage of your career? >> i guess i would take the one that makes the billion dollars that the critics don't care for because then i can make seven of the ones -- >> that's a fascinating answer. that's an honest answer. >> that's the business side of me. i understand how this business works. even though i understand how this machine is driven and how it works, even in making the choices i have on the bigger studio films, i feel really, really lucky and i'm grateful that i have never truly felt like i have done myself any -- i haven't compromised to the place where i feel uncomfortable. i have chosen the big movies with still a belief that there's something creative there in the story telling. it's not a complete sell-out. >> i accept that. we'll take a short break. when we come back, we're going to talk about south africa and your mother who is a heroic constant figure in your life. >> the broad. >> the broad. [ indistinct conversations ] nice, huh? yeah. you know what else is nice is all the savings you can get on cruze and traverse over there. oh! that's my beard. [ chuckles ] it's amazing. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now very well qualified lessees can sign and drive a 2012 cruze ls for around $199 a month. ♪ >> give it to you straight. i'm trying to clean my life up here and go straight and christian and all, so, if there's anything that you can help me with -- >> you are convicted of a felony. >> that's because -- >> that doesn't matter. the best you are going to get is factory work. todd, do we have factory work? >> i'm sorry. i'm trying to talk to you woman-to-woman, truthfully. hey! hey! hey! >> charlize theron as eileen warner. that wasn't just heralded as a great movie. critics in america said it was one of the greatest performances in the history of acting, an amazing thing to say about a young actress in your position. it was an astounding film. so visceral a role, that chakt. when you look back on it now, brilliant for you and your career, to actually play that role, what was the experience like? >> that was the greatest gift i have been given in my career. >> really? >> i'm not going to sit here and be jaded about it. >> did you watch the oscars as a young girl? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> did you think it was impossibly glamorous? >> yeah, the funny thing is i would watch the oscars. i would go to the movies. i love movies, but i didn't know -- i didn't know the celebrity aspect of it. i didn't know their names. that's that guy in the movie. that was my connection to it. i felt this kind of, my perspective was, i thought that tom hanks was like my neighbor in south africa. he happened to be an actor. i didn't understand, you know, the reality of what that world was. >> what was the reality of life in south africa? pretty tough from everything i read and heard. >> tough -- i had an incredible childhood in south africa. i grew up in a country with a lot of turmoil. look, i went through, i lived in a country that went through one of the biggest historical changes in this -- in my lifetime. now, with everything that's happening in north africa and the middle east, it's equivalent to that. in '91, and '94, with the first re-election, the first democratic re-election, that was a really huge thing. i think it was only around then when i was around 19 or 20 that i truly understood. before that, i didn't know any different. then, from traveling and understanding where i was coming from, i understood how what we had gone through as a country and as a nation. living, when i was raised in south africa, i was raised somewhat isolated in a rural farm community. my parents had a construction company, they built a lot of the roads in south africa. the farm was used for us to survive on. we grew and ate everything. it was to hold the machinery. everybody that worked for the company lived with us. i was an only child. i was raised with sioux lieus and their children. i was only aware of what was going on in south africa through the fact my parents were very much outspoken about politics. that was an every night event, having dinner and having my mom and dad talk about the situation and politics and witnessing racism through some of my friends and that knowledge was evident. so, i think i was blessed to have the childhood that you have to look at the glass half empty or half full. i grew up in a beautiful country with a lot of problems. i was raised by two great parents, a great mother who made me very much aware of having a political awareness of where you come from and of the world. i feel like a lot of my friends in america don't have that. they were raised in a country that was very fortunate. >> i went to south africa last summer. i went around the township, it's an incredible thing to do. millions of people living in poverty. their spirit would be really low and depressed. it could not be more different. joy i saw amongst these people that had nothing. it was really from hope. they have been given hope by nelson mandela and taught not to complain by nelson mandela. if ever a man should complain,itis him. he came out of prison, we're not going to have a bloody war, we are going to forgive and move on and be a country that unites. that's what happened. >> a lot of politicians can say that and it has no effect. his cause and effect is brilliant. >> have you met him? >> yes. >> when did you meet him? >> the first time i met him, i won the academy award. that was the first time i met him. >> what did he say to you? >> the nicest things that any icon or hero could say. things i'm so not deserving of. >> like what? >> just, you know, giving me credit for being a south african and putting south africa on the map, which i didn't. but i'll take it any day. >> it was a big deal for a south african to win an oscar. >> not in that category. >> any ever? >> yes. >> who? >> i don't know. it's pretty special, yeah. for this farm girl, yeah it's pretty special. >> extraordinary. i want to come after the next break to what i was going to get to when we got sidetracked. your mother who was, i think you would say pretty special? >> yeah. back now with charlize theron. there was this thing that happened to you. i don't want to rake over the coals, i know you have moved on from this but you talk fondly of both of your parents. one day, you are 15 years old and this awful scene erupts where your father comes back with his younger brother, they are both drunk, aggressive, your father has a gun as most people in south africa does. he starts shooting in a room with your mother and you in it. your mother shoots him dead. i don't want to go over the details. in terms of the impact it had in your life, how would you describe what happened afterwards? how much of it is down to you, if anything? >> look, i don't know. it was the great tragedy of my life, but i think that what follows is what normally follows when you go through something, like a great loss or shock. i'm not the first person and i won't be the last person on this earth to experience something like that. unfortunately, a lot of people experience that kind of violence. you have to find where you want yourself to be and how you want people to see you in this world. i was blessed to have a parent that guided me towards very healthy time period of mourning, going through the confusion, going through the shock, the anger, all the emotional things you do when this happens to you. really, kind of guided me towards not being a victim and not going through my life feeling victimized. i'm saddened by that night and saddened by that i vent. >> do you still have nightmares, flashbacks? does it haunt you? >> no, it doesn't haunt me at all. i'm completely at peace. >> it's an extraordinary thing, she sends you off. she says get away. whatever happens to me, i don't want you part of this. get away and have a career. you did. >> my mother is amazing. i know all daughters will say this. it sounds bias. my mother is a very -- she's very unique. >> she saved your life when you were 2 years old. you fell into a swimming pool, she dived in fully clothed and pulled you out and she saved your life again. >> she saved my life many other times, too. >> tell me about her. >> it's incredible, she hates this. she's a very private person and hates when i talk about her. i will do this because we always tend to talk about that night and i think it is good for people to understand that my mother has this incredible ability to -- she has a resilience about her that i have never come across in any other human being. she has this incredible ability to truly understand and appreciate the value of life. and i'm not just saying that because of that experience. she had it before. when i was growing up. not just because she went through an event where you kind of have to look at every single day that it could be your last because these things do happen. i'm not saying it in that sense. from the time i was a little girl, my mother had this appreciation. she celebrates life. the interesting thing is she -- i don't understand where she got the tools to be the mother she is. she did not have a mother who was good to her. so, i'm -- i -- i want to just -- i always feel like i want to praise her and kind of sing her praises in some way because i feel that it's wrong that's the only kind of event people always talk about. >> the most remarkable thing you can probably show people is your mother's strength from that time of terrible crisis for both of you and the family. look where you are now. >> i think in my oscar speech i tried to say this but lost it. i tried to say there were no words to describe how grateful, how much i love her and how grateful i am because of the things she sacrificed for me to do this. she was completely alone. she was living on a farm by herself. it's one of the most dangerous things you can do in south africa. she did it for years. she encouraged me to go chase a better life for myself. another parent could have said no. >> the strength and character you get from your mother. there must be things you got from your father. >> he was a fun guy. you know, he was a fun guy. i've -- i -- you know, he liked to laugh. i remember him laughing a lot. um, god. yeah. look, i'm sure i'm positive i'm from both of them, but i feel very similar to my mother, very, very similar to my mother. >> let's take another break. i want to come back and talk to you about what you have given back to south africa since you have been here. it's an extraordinary thing you have achieved, i think. progresso. it fits! fantastic! 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[ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. back with charlize theron. the charlize theron africa outreach project is to reduce hiv/aids and sexual violence. 12 years you have been doing this. you have had real success and achievement. tell me about it. >> we launched the program in 2007. i started working with the rape crisis center in africa 12 years ago. at that time, we were the rape capital of the world. it's a big issue in south africa. what happens when you start talking about the rape crisis in south africa, you start understanding there's a bigger problem because you are dealing with a country affected with hiv and aids. south africa, the epidemic in south africa is the worst than any other country in the world. the number of premature deaths caused by hiv/aids increased from 39% to 75%. we are only 1% of the population. we are 17% of people living with aids and hiv in the world. so, you start hearing things like that and, like obviously i'm south african so it made sense to me. i think if i wasn't a south african and heard those numbers -- >> what is the main reason it is so bad in south africa and what can be done? >> i think it's a lack of education. i really believe that. this program made me aware of that. we take for granted people knowing how to prevent hiv and aids. there's a lot of money pouring into immediate care for people who are positive. i think it's very important. we have a real problem with governments and dnaors not dealing with preventive care. to end this vicious cycle, we have to seriously start looking at prevention care. it's all about education. when we launched the program in 2007, we started the sex educational part of it. you know, culturally it's not accepted to talk about these things. it's taboo. we start a conversation with teenagers about sex was impossible. we would get amazing beautiful african mommas, a mother figure to them who made it okay to talk about sex and cond