Oscar-winner Charlize Theron's neck injury on the sets of Aeon Flux could have been much worse, said her boyfriend Stuart Townsend.

Townsend, who co-stars with Charlize in her next film Head on the Clouds, said she slipped while performing a black flip and hurt her neck. 'The slipped disc almost went into the spinal cord.'

The injury made her halt shooting in Berlin and return home, but Townsend said Charlize was fine now and would need to rest for six weeks.

Aeon Flux has halted production for several weeks.