According to Bravo, it's been almost three years since actress Charlize Theron posted
a family photo to Instagram, but she made a rare exception on August 25th, 2019, with
a sweet picture of her 7-year-old adopted daughter, Jackson.
The child, in a red dress and picking fruit off a tree, stands with her face obscured
by leaves - which prompted Theron to caption the photo
"We don't wanna leaves."
Theron adopted Jackson, who was assigned male at birth, in 2012, and later adopted her daughter
August, in 2015.
However, during an April 2019 interview with the Daily Mail, the Oscar-winner revealed
that Jackson is transgender, and that she now identifies as female.
"[My kids] were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find
themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide.
My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have
everything they need in order to be what they want to be.
And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected
within that."
Charlize Theron has a history of LGBTQ activism, including her early public encouragement of
the need for marriage equality.
During a 2009 appearance on The View, the Mad Max star stated that she and then-boyfriend
Stuart Townsend would not get married before everyone in the United States had that same
right.
"I don't want to get married, because right now the institution of marriage feels very
one-sided, and I want to live in a country where we all have equal rights."
She went on to say,
"because I have so many friends who are gays and lesbian, and would so badly want to get
married, and I wouldn't be able to sleep with myself."
Not only do Theron's kids have someone fully embracing who they truly are; they also have
a mother who is actively working to connect them with their culture.
Theron, who hails from South Africa, told Graham Norton,
"I am raising two beautiful proud black African girls, and I want them to find themselves,
and not necessarily push my ancestry on them."
And during a sit down with actor Michael B. Jordan as part of Variety's Actors on Actors
series, Theron touched on a similar topic, telling the Black Panther star that she couldn't
wait to share his movie with her kids.
"That movie broke so many glass ceilings across the board.
Not just the fact that there are women in power and they're black, beautiful, strong..."
She added,
"As an African woman, as a woman just in general.
It's so empowering to watch that movie."
Charlize Theron joins a long list of celebrities who are raising their children free of gender
stereotypes, and allow their children space to figure out who they are on their own.
Actress Kate Hudson, who has two biological sons and also adopted a girl, told AOL that
she takes a "genderless" approach to raising her kids.
"[Having a daughter] doesn't really change my approach, but there's definitely a difference.
[...] I think you just raise your kids individually regardless."
She added,
"We still don't know what she's going to identify as.
I will say that, right now, she is incredibly feminine in her energy, her sounds and her
way.
It's very different from the boys."
And in defending his son's decision to model skirts for Louis Vuitton, megastar Will Smith
told BBC Radio 1 Xtra,
"Jaden is 100 percent fearless."
He continued,
"As a parent it's scary, it's really terrifying, but he is completely willing to live and die
by his own artistic decisions."
Jaden's secret?
"He just doesn't concern himself with what people think."
In 2017, comedian Russel Brand also spoke out, telling the show This Morning that having
a daughter has changed the way he views gender.
"I have re-evaluated the way that I unconsciously looked at gender, because now I've got a daughter
I think, 'Wow, I don't necessarily need to dress her in clothes that are indicative of
her gender...'"
He added that he wanted to let his child discover themself for themself.
"Just see how she formulates.
I've become quite sensitive to that and aware of it."
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