Charlize Theron's sticky spider situation

Charlize Theron once had a spider lay eggs inside her.

The 39-year-old actress grew up in the countryside in South Africa, so nothing about nature or animals scares her. She's been in some pretty hairy situations too, revealing one arachnid once got a little too close to her for comfort.

"I'm really scared of flying. But growing up on a farm with lots of critters means I'm not scared of bugs or spiders. Actually, I had a spider lay eggs in my skin once and its babies started hatching," she told British magazine Hello!

"Yes, so now I have two holes in my leg. The spiders did a pretty good job dogging in."

That would drive many people to despair, but it didn't overly concern Charlize. She was raised to be strong and not let things like that get to her, which is something she's held on to during her life.

It also means the blonde star has learnt the importance of trusting her gut.

"I'm a pretty good reader of people. I've gone through moments when I've doubted them but my instincts are really good. I rely on them a lot and I'm rarely wrong," she explained.

This refusal to be swayed by things and insistence on standing up for herself has led to Charlize being viewed as a strong woman. She doesn't mind, but insists she's not that different to most ladies. In fact she sometimes gets tired of the label, adding she doesn't understand why people are so obsessed with referring to her and her Mad Max: Fury Road co-stars including Zoë Kravitz and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley that way.

"People say how we're strong women but we're really just women in this movie," she insisted. "We just had a filmmaker who understands women are powerful enough. We don't want to be put on pedestals or made to be unnaturally strong. What we're capable of doing is really interesting and really informs a story like this."