Charlize Theron's attitude towards life has been shaped by tragedy.

The 47-year-old actress came to realise that "you don’t have forever" after experiencing tragedy during her younger years.

The Oscar-winning star - whose mother shot her father in an act of self-defence - explained: "One thing that early tragedy brought me is the realisation that you don’t have forever. You just don’t.

"And it’s easy to be like, 'Oh, it’s one movie,' but then it’s another movie and another. And I don’t want to sound like I’m carrying some message on my sleeve, but I do think for women, we worry [that] if we don’t work harder and we don’t keep pushing, we will never quite arrive. And it is exhausting.

"I never feel like, 'Oh, I can just f****** enjoy this'. But you do get more perspective as you get older, and, at almost 50, it does get easier."

Despite her success, Charlize insists she doesn't behave like a stereotypical movie star.

The acclaimed actress doesn't feel a need to behave like an "enigma".

Charlize told The Hollywood Reporter: "I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone I’ve had business with would say, 'Oh, I don’t know her.'

"I make it so abundantly clear when I meet somebody, even if it’s a pitch at a streamer for a f****** TV show, that I don’t need to be an enigma. And I think that’s part of the broad-ness, the let me swear and be self-deprecating - it’s because I don’t want to waste all this time with you thinking I’m this movie star. Let’s break down all the walls so that we can just get down to business."