Charlize Theron bullied at school

New York - Charlize Theron has spoken out about being a "mess" due to bullying at Putfontein primary school in Benoni.

While promoting her new movie, Young Adult, in New York, the 36-year-old actress told People magazine that she was never popular when she was younger.

She said: "I wasn't in the popular crowd.

"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.

The SA-born beauty also admitted she never had boyfriends when she was at school, though she had a lot of "crushes" that were not reciprocated.

'Boys didn't like me'

"I wore really nerdy glasses because I was blind as could be and the boys didn't like me. I didn't have any boyfriends, but lots of crushes," said Charlize.

She did aspire to be one of the popular girls, though.

Charlize added: "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, I was in tears one day because I couldn't sit next to her."

However, as she got older, Charlize became immune to the taunts of her classmates.

"I got that out of my system by the time I got to high school and was more immune to all of that stuff," said the Oscar-winning actress.