OSCAR-winning actress Charlize Theron wishes her parents had divorced when their marriage began to flounder - as she is certain it would have prevented mum GERDA from killing her father in self defence.

The MONSTER beauty has always supported her mother, who insists she was sure her husband CHARLES intended to seriously hurt her and Charlize when he returned home in a violent rage that fateful night.

But Charlize, 28, believes the family could have enjoyed a good relationship, if only the warring couple had admitted their marriage was over.

She says, "God, I wish he wasn't dead.

"It was very, very sad what happened, I wish they'd divorced years before, because I think he would have been a happy man."

04/04/2004 10:25