Why she was bullied in school

Growing up, Charlize Theron was the girl who never quite fit in, especially when it came to the boys.

“I wore really nerdy glasses because I was blind as could be and the boys didn’t like [me],” she revealed in a recent interview with PEOPLE in New York. “I didn’t have any boyfriends, but lots of crushes.”

She was ignored by a boy she liked, and though she longed to be part of the popular crowd, she ended up doing some “crazy things” in an attempt to fit in.

“I wasn’t in the popular crowd. There was a really popular girl at school and I was obsessed with her. I mean, you would go to jail for that stuff today,” Theron says with a laugh. “I was in tears one day because I couldn’t sit next to her.”

Her classmates didn’t make it easier, bullying her for her glasses, imperfect hair, and clothes.

“I actually got a lot of the mean girl stuff from the ages of 7 to 12. I was pretty much a mess in primary school,” she admits. “But I got that out of my system by the time I got to high school and was more immune to all of that stuff.”