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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 filmBombshell, rather impressive when it allowed her to recreate theMe Toomovement in the form of a brilliant satire.
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 inBombshelland 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 Theronrealized one thing about the former Fox News starMegyn Kelly: she was formidable. So it was a matter of pride whenBombshellallowed Theron to bring Kelly’s story to the big screen and pull back the curtain on the women who launched theMe Toomovement.
However,Bombshellwasn’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.”[viaThe 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 aninterview withThe 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:
I was, like, ‘Wow, this woman is really taking this guy on.’ Watching her have to go back and grovel, because [Trump] was a ratings machine for Fox, I think was just devastating.
Charlize Theron: ‘I’m not a Republican, I’m a liberal, but…’ on Explaining Why She Watched Fox News Before ‘Bombshell’
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
In the opening shot of the 2019 filmBombshell, 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 ofBombshell, 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 July 12, 2025, where she defended the drag queen community, saying:“I will f— anybody up who is, like, trying to f— with anything with [drag queens].”
“You’d never f–king came forward with any allegations”: Megyn Kelly Called Charlize Theron a Coward After Mad Max Star Made a Bad Comment After Bombshell
Kelly found fault with Theron on that statement, using her platform on SiriusXM’sThe Megyn Kelly Showto blast the South African actress. On July 27, 2025, 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:
Yes, there are fun drag queen shows. I’ve been to them [and] it was all adults.But there are drag queen shows out there right now that are deeply disturbing and they’re happening in front of young children.So know what you’re supporting.
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, theAtomic Blondeactress is very sure about where she stands on the subject and it’s not on the side of Megyn Kelly.
Bombshellis currently streaming on MGM+.
Diya Majumdar
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2408
Diya Majumdar is a Senior Content Writer at FandomWire with over 2000 published articles on the website. Since 2022, she has been working as an entertainment journalist with a special focus on films and pop culture.Among the countless genres and themes of Hollywood, the ones that particularly favor Diya’s tastes include Game of Thrones, DC, and well-aged thrillers and classics.
