Charlize Theron is raising her first child Jackson as a girl

The subject of gender has been much debated - but if you ask Charlize Theron, it's pretty simple.

Her child was born a boy named Jackson. However, when Jackson told his mother that she was "not a boy" at the age of three, that was that.

When the Tully actress was caught on a sunny morning in Beverly Hills by the Daily Mail and questioned on the rumours that she is raising Jackson, 7, as a girl, she matter-of-factly confirmed the situation.

Here's Charlize Theron opening up about her kids:

Speaking lovingly of her daughter, the 43-year-old said it was her job as a mother to celebrate her children for whoever they are and protect them so they can thrive in life.

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

She continued: "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."

Rumours had been swirling for a while that the Monster star wasn't raising Jackson as a boy, with the adopted little girl often seen out and about wearing dresses with long, braided hair.

While speaking to the Daily Mail, the mother-of-two added that her honest attitude towards life came from her mother, stating: "You can blame my mom for the fact I don't know any better! 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 mom 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 has previously spoken out about how her mother Gerda is her role model. She endured a tragic childhood in which her mum had to kill her alcoholic and abusive father in self-defence after he came home in a rage, carrying a gun and threatening to kill them both.

Confirming she had been through therapy to deal with the family tragedy, the Hollywood star said that people didn't know "how to respond" when she told them the story, and she did not want to "feel like a victim."