You'll Respect the Reason Charlize Theron Gained 50 Pounds to Play a Mom

In her new movie, Tully, Charlize Theron plays Marlo, a mom of three, including a newborn, who is gifted a night nanny by her brother. For the role, the 46-year-old actress revealed she decided to gain 50 pounds — as opposed to wearing a "fat suit" — in order to try and put herself in the shoes of a pregnant person.

"I did this, yes, but mothers do this every single day," she said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. "We just don't talk about a lot of stuff parents go through. They get pregnant, they gain all that weight, and it takes them a year and a half to lose it, and if they don't, they get judged."

She added: "I feel like I had to do it for the film if I was going to play a mother who's having her third child. I felt a responsibility to that. I think, for myself as an actor, I wanted to feel as much as I could."

Charlize, who's raising a boy and a girl she adopted in 2012 and 2015, respectively, also opened up about the adjustment of having two kids as someone who grew up without siblings. "It was just a peaceful, beautiful loving relationship that made me cry everything single day," she said. "Now I cry, but not because it's peaceful and loving anymore."

Watch the rest of the video above to see her explain her motherhood journey and do a hilarious impression of her kids.