NEW YORK - Charlize Theron is quick to call out any sexual harassment.

Promoting her new movie Long Short in Europe, she bluntly told Cyril Hanouna, host of a French TV show, not to kiss her interpreter on the cheek without permission.

"Wow, maybe ask next time?" the Oscar winner scolded him, according to the DigitalSpy portal.

Her act last week drew support from netizens. One wrote: "In one sentence, you have highlighted exactly the problem of @Cyrilhanouna, this guy has no respect for anyone."

Another person wondered when Hanouna will be fired from the show.

But it was not always easy for Theron, 43, to deal with misbehaviour from people in power.

She turned up on The Howard Stern Show on Monday (April 29) where she revealed her ordeal at her first Hollywood audition - with a producer on a Saturday at 9pm.

"I had just turned 19, I might have still been 18. He opened the door and he was in his pajamas, barefoot.

"He sat very close to me, that was strange. The drinking bothered me, I was like: 'It doesn't feel right.' At one point, he put his hand on my knee... you don't know what to do, but I left.

"I don't even know how I got out of the house but I was driving my Ford Fiesta and I was so angry with myself that I didn't say something."

But Theron had her chance to speak her mind eight years later, when she was about 27, already famous and received a job offer from the same producer.

"I went (to see him) purely just to have my moment, where he said: 'Nice to meet you' and I said: 'No, we've met before.' He had no recollection of it and his producing partner was standing right next to him. He was embarrassed.

"I went down the list, I said it was at 9pm, on a Saturday at your house, you were wearing pajamas, I went down the list. I had my moment. He went: 'Wow, I do not remember that.'"

Though Theron did not name the producer, she did reveal that he is still a top name in the industry.

Theron is not done with sexual harassment yet.

She stars in the upcoming film Fair And Balanced, which probes a scandal at American cable news channel Fox News.

Theron is playing presenter Megyn Kelly, who alleged that she was harassed by her boss Roger Ailes.

He resigned in July 2016 from his post as chairman and chief executive of Fox News and Fox Television Stations, and died in 2017.