Charlize Theron on that Mick Fanning shark attack

Johannesburg - The video of Mick Fanning and that shark attack went viral in minutes. The Aussie surfer fought off the shark during the annual Jeffreys Bay Open. And we all watched in horror as live footage showed him fending off the shark, while on his surfboard in the water.

Now, actress Charlize Theron has weighed in on the matter, saying this is why South Africans are so tough.

Speaking to USA Today, Charlz chatted about her childhood memories of Jeffreys Bay.

"It's a place I used to go to as a kid on summer vacations. We had a house (near Jeffreys Bay). As a kid we would swim in the ocean and you would hear the lifeguards blowing on their whistles and all the kids would just run out of the water."

The actress says it was a hub for sharks. "We would just stand there and watch the shark... this was so sick. As the wave would come up, we would watch the shark swim way, all the way (out of the bay) and then the whistle would go off again.  And we would just run back into the water."

When asked, "This is why South Africans must be so tough," she replied, "This is why."

Charlz is clearly tougher than a lot of us, because we certainly wouldn't get back into the water after a shark had just visited.

Here's the vid of the incident, in case you had any doubts... (You see it all happen in the first 20 seconds)