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Charlize Theron Explains Why She Won't Be Getting Married...Ever

Remember when Charlize Theron declared herself a forever-fiance until gay marriage was legally recognized all over the U.S., saying "love is love and we should all have the same rights"?
/ Source: E!online

Remember when Charlize Theron declared herself a forever-fiance until gay marriage was legally recognized all over the U.S., saying "love is love and we should all have the same rights"?

The Oscar winner, who split with longtime beau Stuart Townsend last year, says she believes that marriage is a "divine right." But it turns out that it's a right she has no interest in exercising regardless of federal prohibitions.

"Some would say because I came from a very troubled marriage," Theron says in an interview airing Wednesday on Piers Morgan Tonight, explaining why tying the knot doesn't appeal to her. "My parents did not have a good marriage, but I don't think it's that."

So, is it really the gay marriage issue, then?

MORE: Charlize Theron's $20,000 Date Night

"It's a divine right," she says of the right to get hitched, which last week was extended to gay couples in New York, "and when government starts to tell us who can love and what is good love, whether government or a government built on a certain religion, I do have a problem with that. If you want to bring it back to the politics...I do have a problem with the fact that our government hasn't stepped up enough to make this federal, to make this legal."

"I think everybody has that right," Theron says.

But A didn't necessarily lead to B when it comes to her own personal life, the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman star adds.

"I'll be the first to say, here on your show, marriage--before I felt this way about this issue--was never something that was important to me. I don't know the exact reason for that," Theron says. She acknowledges that her parents were not happily married, but she doesn't think that's necessarily the case, considering she knows plenty of happy couples who came from broken homes.

"I really want for myself a long-term relationship," she continues, "and I have been in long-term relationships...That's the kind of union that I want. The actual ceremony is not something that is important to me--but I see the importance for other people."

Somehow, even among the most arch traditionalists, we suspect that there are plenty of dudes out there who will be happy to abide.

PHOTOS: Charlize looks awfully pretty on her own, doesn't she?