CHARLIZE Theron has revealed she is raising her seven-year-old as a girl - after introducing the child to the world as a boy.

The Hollywood actress said Jackson - one of her two adopted children - was three when the youngster told her: "I am not a boy."

3 Charlize has revealed how she is raising her seven-year-old son as a girl Credit: Splash News

South African Theron, 43, has now said she is raising "two beautiful daughters".

Speaking openly about her child's transition, the actress told the Daily Mail that she too initially thought she had a son.

She said: "Yes, I thought she was a boy, too. Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said, 'I am not a boy!"

The star now considers Jackson to be every bit as much a girl as her three-year-old sister August.

3 Charlize Theron says that her seven-year-old Jackson, who she adopted as a baby boy, is every bit as much of a girl as his three-year-old sister Credit: Rex Features

I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive Charlize Theron

Charlize said: "So there you go! I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive.

"They were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide.

"My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be.

"And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that."

3 Charlize with her mum Gerda who she says has given her strength Credit: AP:Associated Press

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Charlize said her mum's strength and forthright attitude to matters helps her to see things clearly and with conviction.

Mum Gerda shot dead Charlize's abusive father in an act of self-defence after he came home from work in a rage and threatened to kill them both.

She added: "You know, I grew up in a country where people lived with half-truths and lies and whispers and nobody said anything outright, and I was raised very specifically not to be like that.

"I was taught by my mum that you have to speak up; you have to be able to know that, when this life is over, you'll have lived the truth you're comfortable with, and that nothing negative can come from that."

Charlize, known for starring in films such as The Devil's Advocate and Mighty Joe Young, adopted Jackson in 2012 and her other daughter, August, was adopted three years later.

This is not the first time Theron has referenced having two daughters. During an Actors On Actors segment for Variety in December last year, she told Black Panther actor Michael B Jordan she has "two young beautiful, black, African-American girls".

Trailer for comedy Long Shot starring Seth Rogan and Charlize Theron

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