Charlize Theron: 'Women wilt, men age like fine wine'

LONDON, April 6 (UPI) -- Charlize Theron is taking on the Hollywood taboo subject of aging, saying women have "accepted" unfair standards for too long.

Speaking with GQ magazine for its May issue, the Mad Max: Fury Road actress stated: "We live in a society where women wilt and men age like fine wine. And for a long time, women accepted it."

"We were waiting for society to change, but now we're taking leadership," she continued. "It would be a lie to say there is less to worry for women as they get older than there is for men...it feels there's this unrealistic standard of what a woman is supposed to look like when she's over 40."

The Hollywood beauty, 40, also challenged a general assumption that it's easier for beautiful people to get meaningful work in the acting industry.

"Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them and that's the end of the story," she said. "How many roles are out there for the gorgeous, [expletive], gown-wearing eight-foot model? When meaty roles come through, I've been in the room and pretty people get turned away first."

Theron, who previously dated actor Sean Penn, most recently discussed rumors she dropped Penn without contacting him ahead of their 2015 split. She denied "ghosting" the actor during an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this month.

"There is this need to sensationalize things," Theron explained. "When you leave a relationship there has to be some [expletive] crazy story or some crazy drama. And the [expletive] ghosting thing, like literally I still don't even know what it is."