Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman dark tragedy stories shock most people

Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman have been powerhouses of Hollywood. However, the moments the duo lived through in their respective lives would shock most people.

Starting with the Monster actress, who recalled watching a nightmare unfold at home at just 15 when her mom – in self-defence – killed her father in 1991.

In a recent interview with The Times, Theron recounted how the shocking incident spiralled over what his drunken father at the time believed her particular act was a disrespect to him.

"I had to pee really badly. So I ran into the house to get to the toilet, and he took that as me being rude, because I didn’t stop and say hello to everybody," she remembered.

"Big thing in South Africa, the kind of respect that you have to have for elders. And he was in a state where he just spiralled. Like, 'Why didn’t you stop? Who do you think you are?'"

That night, Theron explained, she feared a confrontation would happen when her father returned home, and that's what happened.

"He shot through the steel doors to get in, making it very clear that he was going to kill us. His brother was with him as well," she remembered.

Fearing for their lives, Theron's mom, Gerda Jacoba Aletta Maritz, shot her husband. "She followed my father, who was by then opening the safe to get more weapons out, and she shot him."

Nicole Kidman's tragic story

Decades later, the actress's Bombshell co-star, Nicole Kidman, had her devastating moment while she was set to receive the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival.

At HISTORYTALKS, the Babygirl actress revealed the news of the death of her mom, Janelle Ann Kidman, reached her moments before she stepped on stage for the gong.

"I was about to go onstage, and I found out my mother had died, and I went right back to the room in Venice, got into bed, and was completely devastated and thought, 'I do not know how I'm going to move forward or function now.'"

"She was so much a part of my existence. So the idea of being there at that particular moment was parole."

Both Kidman's and Theron's tragedy stories circled back to their mothers – despite them having different tragedies, the stars did not let the trauma define their lives.