Charlize Theron Didn't Have Teeth Until She Was 11

Tabloids have a field day whenever a movie star is photographed with a particularly aggressive pimple or wearing one of last season’s outfits. God only knows what they might have said about Charlize Theron if she had been famous at ten because at that point, she didn’t even have teeth.

Apparently, when the beautiful thirty-six-year-old actress was a girl, she suffered from jaundice. South African doctors put her on a steady stream of antibiotics, and as a horrible side effect, the medication rotted all of her teeth. Without other options, the dentists were forced to simply cut them out, leaving her to suffer through grade school looking like a bizarre carnival attraction. Here’s what she told The Sun

That was tough, you know, being in school having photos taken while I was pretending I had teeth. It was hideous.”

Luckily for Theron, her mouth problem was corrected by the time she reached high school. At sixteen, she was discovered by a modeling scout, and the appearance abnormalities evolved into a funny story that could be laughed about. Life’s middle fingers always take on more humor in retrospect.

To see why Theron is widely-regarded as a wonderful actress, you can check her out in the upcoming Prometheus. To see why she’s an all-around cool lady, you should try to find the Top Chef episode she makes a guest appearance on. She’s got a wicked sense of humor. Her toothless ten-year-old self would be proud.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.