Charlize Theron knows how to kick butt on and off the screen.
The Atomic Blonde alum recently shared a fierce and masterful response to rumors that she's gotten plastic surgery.
"My face is changing," she told Allure in an interview published Aug. 18, "and I love that my face is changing and aging. People think I had a facelift. They're like, 'What did she do to her face?' I'm like, 'Bitch, I'm just aging! It doesn't mean I got bad plastic surgery. This is just what happens.'"
But just because the 48-year-old has decided to not go under the knife, that doesn't mean she's anti-plastic surgery.
"I've always had issues with the fact that men kind of age like fine wines and women like cut flowers," she explained of society's double standards. "I despise that concept and I want to fight against it, but I also think women want to age in a way that feels right to them."
As Charlize put it, "We need to be a little bit more empathetic to how we all go through our journey."
And while the Fast X actress is embracing the skin she's in, she admitted there's one area of aging that's been hard to wrestle with.
"More than my face," she said, "I wish I had my 25-year-old body that I can just throw against the wall and not even hurt tomorrow. Now, if I don't work out for three days and I go back to the gym, I can't walk."
Charlize noted that she's become a lot more mindful about the projects she says yes to.
"I will never, ever do a movie again and say, 'Yeah, I'll gain 40 pounds,'" the Oscar winner explained. "When I was 27, I did Monster. I lost 30 pounds overnight. I missed three meals and I was back to my normal weight. Then I did it at 43 for Tully, and I remember a year into trying to lose the weight, I called my doctor and I said, 'I think I'm dying because I cannot lose this weight.'"
Contrary to her belief, her doctor pointed out that her metabolism simply wasn't what it used to be.
"He was like, 'You're over 40. Calm down,'" she recalled. "Nobody wants to hear that."
Of course, Charlize isn't the only celebrity in recent years to get candid about aging and plastic surgery. Keep reading to see what other A-listers have shared about the topic.
Alabama Barker
Travis Barker and ex Shanna Moakler's daughter has been open about her use of lip fillers but denies having cosmetic surgery.
In February 2024, she shared photos of herself wearing a bikini on Instagram, to which a user commented, "This child has done alot of cosmetic surgery @ a very young age, I hope she doesn't over do it! She looks good now!"
The 18-year-old responded, "I really appreciate the love! I'm natural, besides my lips, accept the fact I'm naturally beautiful."
Kristen Stewart
The Twilight alum told Harper's Bazaar U.K. in 2015 she will "never" get plastic surgery, adding, "I am so freaked out by the idea of doing anything. And maybe that's completely arrogant but I don't want to change anything about myself. I think the women who do are losing their minds. It's vandalism."
Meryl Streep
The actress told Good Housekeeping in 2008. "You have to embrace getting older. Life is precious, and when you've lost a lot of people, you realize each day is a gift."
The supermodel opened up about why she's all about embracing her skin at every age.
"This is a 58 year old face without fillers, Botox or surgery in good light with professional gorgeous makeup," she wrote in her Aug. 21 Instagram caption. "I have chosen not to put anything 'into' my face."
She continued, "Some days, I like it. I feel like my face has gained character even as it's lost its youthful prettiness. And it seems a fair trade off."
The Fast X star revealed whether or not she's gotten plastic surgery.
"My face is changing," she told Allure in an interview published Aug. 18, "and I love that my face is changing and aging. People think I had a facelift. They're like, 'What did she do to her face?' I'm like, 'Bitch, I'm just aging! It doesn't mean I got bad plastic surgery. This is just what happens.'"
Elizabeth Banks
The Charlie's Angels star admitted she's never gotten any cosmetic injectables, telling People, "I've never put a needle in my face. And by the way, most people do it and truly, there's no judgement. But I make my living with my face."
She added, "Basically I'm terrified of f--king it up."
The Magic Mike actress set the record straight on whether or not she's gotten facial injectables. "No Botox!" she put it bluntly on Kelly Ripa's Let's Talk Off Camera podcast.
Linda Evangelista
In 2021, the supermodel, who rose to fame in the '90s as one of the first, sued Zeltiq Aesthetics, alleging that its CoolScupting fat-reducing procedures that she underwent in 2015 and 2016 left her "permanently disfigured." The parties reached a settlement in the case in 2022.
In January 2021, while pregnant, the model wrote on her Instagram Story in response to fans' questions: "For anyone saying 'you need to stop w/ the lip injections': I've never had lip injections (no judging folks who do—ya'll look great!) but you can't even get injections when you're pregnant!"
Jenny from the Block continues to look like Jenny from the Block. In January 2021, she told an Instagram user, "I have never done Botox or any other injectables or surgery!! Just sayin'."
The actress did have a nose job when she was younger to fix a deviated septum but has spoke out against Botox and other facial fillers.
"There is also this pressure in Hollywood to be ageless," she told Yahoo! Beauty in 2014. "I think what I have been witness to, is seeing women trying to stay ageless with what they are doing to themselves. I am grateful to learn from their mistakes, because I am not injecting s--t into my face."
"I've probably tried everything. I would be scared to go under the knife, but you know, talk to me when I'm 50. I'll try anything. Except I won't do Botox again, because I looked crazy," the actress told Harper's Bazaar in 2013.
The actress told InStyle magazine in 2012, "I say, don't fight the rings on the trunk of a tree. Just keep counting 'em."
"The idea of not looking like myself scares me," she added.
The actress told The Telegraph in 2011, "I'm not fiddling about with myself. We're in this awful youth-driven thing now where everybody needs to look 30 at 60."
"Nah. It's not my thing," the actress told MORE magazine in 2007. "I don't have anything against it for other people. Whatever they want to do, I'm fine with it. For me, it's really a self-image thing. Like, I'd rather have somebody go, "Wow, that girl has a big nose" than 'Wow, that girl has a bad nose job.' I'd rather have a comment about who I am than about something that identifies me as being ashamed of who I am."
In 2011, the pop star told Harper's Bazaar, "I think that promoting insecurity in the form of plastic surgery is infinitely more harmful than an artistic expression related to body modification."
In 2011, the actress told the U.K. newspaper The Telegraph that cosmetic surgery goes against her morals, the way her parents brought her up and what she considers to be "natural beauty."
"I will never give in," she added. "I am an actress, I don't want to freeze the expression of my face."