Charlize Theron opens up about relationship with Sean Penn

Charlize Theron has opened up about her relationship with the "love of her life" Sean Penn.

The 39-year-old actress, who is delighted her performance in the new Mad Max movie Fury Road has finally "put women on an equal playing field", said that she's been having much more fun working on her next film, a weepy love story, the Mirror reported. The Monster star added that it is because this movie has given her a chance to spend her days and nights in a romantic bubble with the love of her life Penn.

Theron added that the next step could be a family with the star of Dead Man Walking, as she has always wanted to have children and is so open to anything in her life.

She noted that the duo were really good friends and was aware that they could screw that up and lose it. However, she stated her relationship with Penn was somewhat effortless, adding that it just kind of naturally happened, and before she knew it she was in something that was making her life better.

The pair, who first met at the 2003 Oscars when she won an award for her role in Monster and Sean for Mystic Rover, have been dating for 12 months and now live together in Theron's Malibu home with Jackson, her adopted three-year-old son.