Imagine paparazzi snapping photos of you every time you walk out of the house and even the smallest aspects of your personal life turning into magazine articles. It's surely got to get old — but did Charlize Theron go too far?
THERON: "I think it's when you start living in that world and doing that, you start feeling raped."
REPORTER: "That strong?
THERON: "Well, There are things in my life that I feel are very sacred, and I'm very protective over them."
In an exclusive interview with Sky News, the actress said she doesn't Google herself and compared doing so to "feeling raped." She continued: "My job has made my life incredibly blessed and good and I am very grateful for that, but it does not mean that every aspect of my life all of a sudden becomes fodder for an article. I try to protect against that as much as I can."
She was in the U.K. to promote her new film "A Million Ways to Die in the West" when she made the comments. (Via Universal Pictures Australia / "A Million Ways to Die in the West")
And now critics are speaking up, saying Theron chose poor words during that interview — especially considering the South African native has been involved in anti-rape campaigns in the past.
"People often ask me what the men are like in South Africa. ... Well, if you consider that more women are raped in South Africa than any other county in the world ... it's not that easy to say what the men in South African are like because there seems to be so few of them out there." (Via YouTube / CrackerVideo)
"I think she really, really chose her words poorly. I think that Charlize is a very intelligent woman ... and so I don't think she really realized exactly what she was saying. And a lot of people are speaking out against her." (Via CTV)
ABC reports many of those critics are demanding an apology from the actress.
And TMZ talked to a viewer from Texas who had this to say:
"I think these stars are becoming more and more disillusioned and are not familiarizing themselves with crossing the line. ... I mean, rape is a huge issue in the culture of women."
And of course social media has chimed in. Travel editor Liz Jarvis wrote, "violation of privacy is NOT the same as rape." (ViaTwitter / @LizJarvisUK)
In 2010 Kristen Stewart made a similar comment, saying seeing herself in paparazzi pics was like "looking at someone being raped." She later apologized. (Via YouTube / HitFix)
As of Friday evening, there was no comment from Theron's camp.
