Charlize Theron has embodied multiple different characters over the years and has proven to be incredibly exceptional at everything she does. Be it playing the evil witch queen in Snow White and the Huntsman, Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, or a spy for MI6 in Atomic Blonde – the 49-year-old stunner has immaculately demonstrated her exceptionalism among it all.
At the same time, some of her roles have also managed to take a serious toll on her. For instance, her remarkable work in Tully from 2018 may have made it one of the best comedies of the year, but it also had her leading some of the most brutal moments of her life. To say the least, the transformation she had to undergo for the same was painful enough to leave her depressed.
Charlize Theron’s Transformation for Tully Left Her Depressed
While Charlize Theron is no stranger to molding herself in the way that her role requires of her, doing so for Tully seems to have left her with a tragic experience nonetheless. This is because playing Marlo – the mother of three and the lead protagonist of the masterpiece – as realistically as possible required her to transform her body into that of a woman post-pregnancy.
For this mission, the then-43-year-old actress had to put on nearly 50 pounds. Previously, for her 2003 Oscar-winning crime thriller Monster, she had to do something similar as she gained 30 pounds back then. But this time, not only was the weight and pressure greater but it also ended up proving to be a lot more emotionally and physically taxing on Theron than ever before.
Of course, gaining 50 pounds in real life – even if it was for a temporary role – is nothing easy or simple, and the Atomic Blonde star had to go through a lot of trouble for it. This started with her getting on a 3-month junk-food diet of In-N-Out burgers and mac and cheese – perhaps a heavenly diet for junk food lovers, except that this had Theron undergoing depression for the first time.
Talking to USA Today, she confessed her feelings toward the same, saying:
It was really brutal. I like having that moment at the end of the day when you change in your trailer, get in your car, go home and you’re you. But I couldn’t do it on this and it really got to me. I couldn’t leave this character because my body was just dictating where my mind was and how my moods were.
Just for the sake of the Marlo she perfectly brought to the big screens, the actress had to experience a traumatic period of not only aligning her mindset – for the time being – with that of her character, but also having to deal with the physical toll of it all. But amidst it all, Charlize Theron also found herself gaining empathy for all the mothers who had to go through it all in reality.
Tully Transformation Made Charlize Theron Empathise with Real-Life Moms
Fortunately for her, Theron was able to lose all the additional pounds she had around within a year and a half of gaining it. At the same time, it left behind a strong feeling of empathy in her towards all the mothers out there who actually had to go through it all as they struggled to get back in shape after pregnancy – especially as they grew older. The Mad Max: Fury Road star said:
I know a lot of moms who feel like (crap) 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?’
Well, for what it’s worth, even though the events took a toll on Charlize Theron’s health, they also brought forward something good as they instilled empathy toward fellow mothers in her. Plus, it also added another star-studded Golden Globe nod to her account along with a stunning 87% critical approval from Rotten Tomatoes, so she might as well have embraced it as somewhat of a valuable experience itself.
Tully can currently be watched on Netflix.
