Since going public with their relationship over a year ago, Charlize Theron and Sean Penn have not been shy about discussing their blossoming romance. Now, Charlize has gone one step further and called Sean "the love of my life."
Charlize and Sean couldn't contain their smiles in London in 2015
The pair first met over 20 years ago but didn't begin a relationship until late 2013. Sean recently directed Charlize in her upcoming film, The Last Face, and in a new interview with ELLE Magazine, Charlize admits that the lines between personal and professional did get blurred on set.
"There were times when I was incredibly unfair to him. And moments where I felt like… he was incredibly unfair to me. But it makes you realise that no matter how complicated it gets the priority is the relationship."
She added: "Putting aside that he's my partner, he's the love of my life. For the first time I felt my work was bleeding into my life and that made it hard."
Sean has become very close to Charlize's son Jackson
The pair are rumoured to be engaged, and in a step intended to bring the family closer together, Sean has also reportedly filed papers to adopt Charlize's three-year-old son Jackson.
Charlize adopted Jackson in 2012 when he was four months old, while Sean also has a daughter, Dylan, and son, Hopper, from his marriage to Robin Wright.
In April, Charlize joked'I'm a very, very, very lucky girl. Very lucky. He's hot," when asked about their relationship.
Sean and Charlize both won Oscars in 2004
The 39-year-old actress admitted that entering into a relationship with Sean was not how she expected life to turn out: "Just when you think you know how things are supposed to go down, life just kicks you in the ass and guess what? You don’t have a clue."
"I think we’re both finding ourselves at this moment in our lives kind of shocked. Both of us. It is nice to be in something where the friendship came first," Charlize added.
"I’ve never had that. There’s a weight to the relationship already that I don’t think you have when you just meet somebody and enter a relationship."