“I think was just devastating”: Charlize Theron Was Heartbroken for Megyn Kelly Only for Her to Attack the Actress Later On

For Charlize Theron, the world of media and entertainment is one of the most effective tools when it comes to commenting on the present day’s social politics. The movie star found her efforts in that field, via her Oscar-nominated role in the 2019 film Bombshell, rather impressive when it allowed her to recreate the Me Too movement in the form of a brilliant satire.

Bombshell (2019) [Credit: Lionsgate Films]

But when it came to the real Megyn Kelly – the Fox News anchor who Theron portrayed in the film – the ideologies of the two celebrity figures didn’t quite match up where they should have. Despite playing her fictional alter-ego in Bombshell and coming to understand the woman for all her flaws and courage, there remained a vast chasm of things left unsaid between the two.

Understandably, Theron and Kelly clashed in a battle of words over public platforms – transforming from being each other’s distant admirers to ideological enemies within a matter of years.

Charlize Theron Sympathizes With Megyn Kelly

Despite never meeting the woman, Charlize Theron realized one thing about the former Fox News star Megyn Kelly: she was formidable. So it was a matter of pride when Bombshell allowed Theron to bring Kelly’s story to the big screen and pull back the curtain on the women who launched the Me Too movement.

Megyn Kelly interviews Donald Trump at Trump Tower [Photo by Eric Liebowitz via Fox News]

However, Bombshell wasn’t the melodramatic biopic that usually ends with a theater full of cinemagoers with a tear in their eye. The whip-smart satire about “helmet-haired blondes” is “a witty film about a serious subject, doing for Me Too what Vice did for politics and The Big Short did for banking.” [via The Times] As such, it becomes jarring when a woman with a spine of titanium is shown throwing up in a bucket before walking onto a stage to host the Republic Presidential candidates in 2015.

Charlize Theron, who remains informed on the whole affair, recalls how she admired Kelly for taking on Donald Trump for calling women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.” In an interview with The Times, Theron revealed how inspired she felt watching Kelly confronting the future President and was later shocked at how Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes ordered her to apologize to Trump after standing up to him:

Despite sympathizing with Megyn Kelly over this public humiliation for doing her job well, Charlize Theron found out that her feelings of awe and admiration only went so far when it came to socio-political issues concerning the rights of transgender people. Having a trans daughter herself, Theron was not one to sit back and let their rights be disregarded or diminished in any way. But Kelly was of another opinion entirely.

Charlize Theron and Megyn Kelly Butt Heads on TV

Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly in Bombshell [Credit: Lionsgate Films]

In the opening shot of the 2019 film Bombshell, Charlize Theron strolls through a bullpen talking directly to the camera in a cadence, pitch, and form that made even veteran Fox News viewers believe for a few minutes that they were watching the real Megyn Kelly in a documentary footage. What Theron does is incredible in itself, but her ability to mimic Kelly in the most minute capacity somehow did not bond the two women in an unsaid tie of sisterhood.

In May 2023, exactly three and a half years after the release of Bombshell, Megyn Kelly lashed out at her on-screen alter-ego over a matter of principle. It began when Theron appeared in the “Drag Isn’t Dangerous” telethon on May 4, 2023, where she defended the drag queen community, saying: “I will f— anybody up who is, like, trying to f— with anything with [drag queens].”

Kelly found fault with Theron on that statement, using her platform on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show to blast the South African actress. On May 10, 2023, the former Fox News anchor dissed, “Okay, so why doesn’t Charlize Theron come and f–k me up? Because I’m 100% against her on this.” She elaborated, saying:

Theron’s telethon appearance had already gone viral by then, which helped raise $500,000 for the cause. Although the issue remains unresolved between the two, the Atomic Blonde actress is very sure about where she stands on the subject and it’s not on the side of Megyn Kelly.

Bombshell is currently streaming on MGM+.