Charlize Theron opened up about her Afrikaans heritage in a new interview.

In a new episode of the SmartLess podcast, with hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, Theron revealed that she only learned to speak English fluently when she moved to the US.

When Hayes asks if she had a South African accent as a kid and "got rid of it", Theron reveals that she "didn't speak English until I was like 19".

Theron then goes on to explain that because no one in her neighbourhood spoke English and she took it as a second language at school, it wasn't until she moved that she focused on learning the language.

Bateman points out that he never knew Afrikaans was a "completely different language," regardless of its Dutch origins and having spoken about the language in an interview with News24 in 2017.

Click 'read more' to hear Theron's controversial opinion about Afrikaans.