Charlize fell off a camel, dislocating her jaw and injuring her thumb. Her jaw had to be realigned and her thumb treated in hospital. She got up out of her hospital bed and immediately asked to go back.
The photo shoot was completed, Aletta remembers. Charlize was motivated and knew exactly what she wanted. And she knew the winning recipe even then: discipline and an attitude of “the show must go on”.
On Friday evening, 20 September 1991, the young Charlize won the international modelling competition in Positano on the Amalfi coast in the south of Italy, where scenes would later be filmed for Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), with Diane Liane. Charlize won a year-long modelling contract, and suddenly her school career was over. Fashion shots of her appeared in magazines in South Africa, Italy and France, and she began to appear in TV commercials.
In November, Gianfranco Iobbi of Studio di Milano announced that Charlize would be playing the role of a German female spy in war-torn Italy in an Italian film.
In December 1991 she returned to South Africa to spend the holidays with her mother, her suitcases bulging with clothes. They spent Christmas in Mauritius. She told Rooi Rose magazine that she had never been so busy in her life. It sounded like an exaggeration, she said, but she had no time for herself. She didn’t even have time to do ballet, which she had always loved so much.
She was excited about her first taste of life as a model for the Italian agency and spoke of the gymnasium that she and the other models had at their disposal to keep themselves fit and supple. She said competition among the models was severe. And she proved again how adaptable she was to new surroundings. Just as it would not take her long to get a grip on the workings of Hollywood, she quickly got the gist of a model’s life. All the models were great friends outside working hours, she said, but when they went to work, they did it alone, because they had to make a good impression on their own. You could never allow prospective clients to suspect that you had a chink in your armour, a soft spot, she said. That gave them a chance to exploit you. Charlize refused to pose topless or in the nude, and the clients just had to accept it.
In this interview in December 1991, the sixteen-year-old Charlize made it perfectly clear that she had her mind set on acting. She did not want to be a model, not even a ballerina, as she later claimed. About her role in the Italian film she said that it was what she really wanted to do. She wanted to taste the fame and glamour of Hollywood. She thought that the opportunities for acting were very limited in South Africa. When you have made a name for yourself in America, the entire world knows about you, she said, and added that she would continue to model for the next few years. As long as she could be close to the world of film.
About the possibility that there might be negative experiences in store for her during the time of her modelling contract, she said that she had grown up fast during the past few months in Italy, and she was no longer so emotional.
It was clear that another strong young Theron woman was finding her feet. And stumbling blocks on her way did not make her vulnerable; it brought out her innate toughness. The tragedy of a father’s death can break a child’s spirit; Charlize found strength in tragedy. Joan Kruger had noticed mother and daughter sharing a fleeting glance. If she had interpreted it as a moment of weakness, it was because no one had suspected the steel under Charlize’s wholesome charm.
And the show had to go on.
After their return from Mauritius in January 1992, a newspaper reported as follows:
“Charlize Theron (16) of Benoni will exchange her school desk for the international fashion world this year. Last year the long-legged schoolgirl won one of the most coveted international modelling competitions in Italy. Charlize snapped up the New Model Today title in September from under the noses of sixty other young models from across the globe.”
In 1992, on the brink of an international modelling career, she wrote a letter to her primary-school alma mater, addressed “to everyone at Putfontein Primary School”. The letter, translated into English, reads as follows:
In 1981 I walked into my grade-one class for the first time. Proudly my mother stood next to me and said: “This is your new teacher and all your new friends.” But all I kept telling her was not to forget to fetch me at twelve. To be honest, in the end I enjoyed the day so much that my teacher, whom I called “tannie” [auntie] the entire time, had to come and tell me that my mother was waiting for me. That day was only one of the numerous wonderful days I spent at Putfontein.
I definitely believe in a future for everyone, that is probably why I have such faith in the youth of SA and the entire world. I hope one day everyone will be able to see how important children are, and give them a good education and fill them with knowledge. I can say from my own experience that the seven years of primary school are probably the most important of a child’s growing-up years. There must be teamwork between parents and school to develop good discipline and moral values. The child and his or her friends will continue with the mischief that has been part of their lives since they were very young. I was always too talkative, as every staff member can tell you and, of course, I had way too much energy.
My school work was done with the help of friendly and highly qualified staff. These teachers built a large part of my personality, and I am definitely responsible for a few of the grey hairs they acquired during the years I spent there. I thank my Saviour for the wonderful people they are.
Since I was young I have had a great love of many things, probably too many, but for this I thank my mother. Ballet, sport, music and drama. You name it, and I did it. All these things helped me to get where I am today. I now spend most of my time overseas, where I do modelling and television work for months on end, something I enjoy thoroughly. It is sometimes difficult to be far from home but it’s made easier by having a mom who raised me with love, and who always comforted me with the words: “Remember, I believe in you and stand by you, no matter how far you are from me; don’t forget, I love you very much!” Parents, love your children, they are our future.
To all the learners: Your lives lie ahead of you, make certain that you live each day fully, with true meaning and happiness. Enjoy the good and avoid the bad, be grateful and always be humble. It is wonderful to be young, so enjoy every moment and never stop believing in your dream!
Much love, Charlize Theron.
Conspicuous in this letter, and also in the others kept by her grandmother, are Charlize’s repeated declarations of love (“Remember I love you very very much” – to her grandmother), her reference to her mother, who had always assured her of her love (“I love you very much”), her insistence that parents should love their children. This echoes the habit of Bettie’s own children, even as adults, to end every conversation with “I love you, Mommy.”
This letter is still displayed on a board at the school in honour of Charlize. It is set among primary-school class photos, a large, autographed portrait and a photograph of her, holding her Oscar. Gert Kachelhoffer, who later became headmaster of Putfontein Primary School, says that the letter serves as an inspiration to the pupils. The school is so proud of their former pupil that articles about her life are often used as comprehension tests in class.
True to the advice she gave to the children of Putfontein Primary, Charlize herself decided at a young age never to stop believing in her dreams. These were not the pipe dreams that usually fill the heads of young people. In 1992, when she left for her modelling contract in Italy, she had her eyes on a specific dream.
There has often been speculation about whether Charlize would have become a full-time model at sixteen if her father had still been alive. The question is academic, but in 2008 she expressed the following opinion in GQ: “If circumstances were different maybe I could have waited, finished high school.
