Theron at the premiere of her latest film Hancock in Hollywood. (Reuters)

London, July 1: Actress Charlize Theron has criticised fellow celebrities for lacking “decorum” but described herself as “pretty hot”.

The Oscar-winning star said she was happy with her appearance but admits that dieting away her curves for a film role left her utterly miserable.

“I don’t have hang-ups about the way I look. I can see myself in the mirror when I’m all done up and think I look pretty hot,” she said, adding: “But I can see myself every day and see this round Dutch doll face. We’ve got so crazy about our faces and our bodies. I guard my privacy partly because I like to keep my head free from all that paranoia.” Theron, 32, won an Oscar for her role as a serial killer in Monster, piling on weight to look virtually unrecognisable. Critics applauded her willingness to put vanity aside and look ugly on screen.

She told Elle magazine: “I’m not super-skinny. I have curves and they belong on my body. I put on two stone for Monster but I also lost two stone when I played a woman with cancer in Sweet Sixteen.

“I hated being fat but I also hated being so thin. I went down to a size 6 and I just felt completely uncomfortable. I remember being cold and wrapping my arms around my body and feeling ribs and bone. I felt totally unsexy. Women have to work out what makes them feel comfortable, whether it’s about their weight or their clothes.

“As for fashion, I couldn’t ever be a slave. I don’t do scruffy because I can’t do it. It doesn’t suit me. I like clean, classic looks. Just because skinny jeans are in fashion you don’t wear them if they suck on you.”

The South African-born actress criticised fellow stars for lacking “decorum” and said she refused to play the celebrity game.

“Oh my God, is it so strange that I don’t buy into all that? Actually, it upsets me the way a lot of so-called celebrities just completely exploit themselves. I don’t get it. There is a decorum that I believe in that just doesn’t exist in Hollywood any more,” she said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Theron spoke of her love for her boyfriend of six years, Irish actor Stuart Townsend.

“I couldn’t imagine being more in love with anyone than I am with Stuart. He is beyond special,” she said. “I can see how arranged marriages can be good. There was something my mum and my friends saw in Staurt that was so right.

“I know I have been in love before, but I’ve never been with anyone who was a whole part of me and who was a friend as a well as a lover. He can inspire me and he’s also the sexiest man ever. When I’m going to see him I get all fluttery in my tummy. No matter how much I love working on a movie, the best bit always is when I get to go back home to my sexy Irish guy.” Despite that, Theron has no desire to wed, having witnessed her parents’ unhappy marriage. Her mother, Gerda, shot dead her drunken father in an act of self-defence when Theron was 15.