Cameron Diaz Prioritizes Family & Being a Mom over Beauty & Fame: 'I Don't Care What I Look Like'

Cameron Diaz dreamed of starting a family very early, but with the rise of her career, she postponed her plans. "The Mask" actress found love 20 years after her set timeline and eventually started her family.

After becoming a mother, the former actress and model felt genuinely blessed and hoped to live a long life. The "The Other Woman" actress decided to retire to spend more time with her family while learning to embrace herself.

The happy wife and mother no longer cares what she looks like as she rarely puts much effort into any beauty routine. Here's how Cameron Diaz shifted her focus from beauty and fame to family.

Cameron Diaz revealed that she thought she would be married and have two children by the time she was 21. She wanted to model her life after her mother's life.

However, life took a different turn for the "What to Expect When You're Expecting" actress. Diaz became a successful model in her teens, her acting career took off at 21, and she knew her dream of being a mother would not happen.

As her career started taking off, she knew there were many things she wanted to do, and motherhood had to wait. After that, the actress never postponed any other timeline in her life.

THE SOCIETAL PRESSURES ON WOMEN

In 2012 Diaz talked about the constant pressures women faced regarding having children. She said:

"Society definitely puts pressure on women to make them think their lives should go a certain way."

The actress never had any expectations about whether she would ever have children, but she never said she did not want them.

Diaz did not know where life would take her, but she was not ready to fit into anyone's box about how she should be a star. However, she knew that if she ever wanted a child, the child would find its way into her life. She said:

"I can't see the future, but one thing I do know is that I'm not childless."

Diaz understood the pressures of society, but she never felt the need to do anything in life because society expected that from her. She would always wait for the right time.

FINDING LOVE AFTER 40

Over 20 years after the timeline Diaz set for herself, she met her husband, Benjamin Madden, the backing vocalist and lead guitarist for the Good Charlotte band.

Diaz was 42 when she found the love of her life. She had met Benjamin through Nicole Richie, who is now married to Joel, Benjamin's twin brother.

She revealed that Richie and Joel did not set them up, but they were in the same room because of them and finally found one another.

After dating for seven months, Benjamin proposed to the actress-turned-wine-entrepreneur and announced their engagement in December 2014. On January 5, 2015, the couple got married in an intimate ceremony at her Beverly Hills home.

Their 15-minutes wedding had only 96 attendees, including Lionel Richie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Judd Apatow, while she had Richie and co-star Drew Barrymore as her bridesmaids.

Despite being a twin, the actress, who had seen his twin brother before she met him, admitted that her husband and his twin are "very, very different."

EXPANDING HER FAMILY

Diaz and Benjamin had always dreamed of having children, and they spent years trying to start a family before finally welcoming their baby girl on December 30, 2019, via surrogacy.

After going through so much, including IVF, supplements, and acupuncture, Diaz felt genuinely blessed as her daughter, Raddix, is 'truly a miracle.'

The excited mother revealed that the only pressure she now has is to live to at least 107 as she had her baby in the second half of her life. She said:

"Having a family when you're young ... it's like anything when you're young: You do it. But when you're my age, and you decide to do it, it's a real choice. You really have to work hard for it."

TAKING A WALK FROM ACTING

Diaz decided to walk away from acting, and she said she wanted a routine she could manage by herself daily because, at some point, other people handled parts of her life.

"I don't care."

Turning 40 allowed her to reassess her life, and she did not want her career to turn her into a machine. The only aspect of her life that functioned at a high level was her personal, spiritual self, which was no longer enough.

Her decision to retire from acting gave Diaz more time to spend with her family and helped her see the people who were not serving her best interests. She said:

"I met my husband, we started a family, all the things I didn't have time for before, and not just the time for but didn't have the space to make the decisions, the right decision for me at the time."

The "Annie" actress said she felt trapped by societal pressures to look a certain way. She admitted that she was once a victim of societal exploitation and objectification.

She further revealed that it was hard not to judge oneself against the beauty markers that society had set. Fortunately, the retired actress had to learn to embrace herself and accept herself.

Diaz worked hard to rid herself of her "toxic" ways, including not taking selfies, not sitting in front of the mirror, and picking herself apart.

She mentally psyched herself to stop being mean to herself and started using positive words. In recent times, she said:

"I don't care. Literally, the last thing I think about on a daily basis – like maybe not at all during the day – is what I look like."

Despite owning tons of beauty products, Diaz no longer puts much effort into her beauty regime as it is no longer her top priority. However, Diaz hoped to "stay strong" as she looked forward to turning 50 in August 2022.

CAMERON DIAZ'S THOUGHTS ON MOTHERHOOD

Diaz and her husband, who seize every opportunity to appreciate their love on social media, also respect each other for being good parents.

She believes motherhood is the best part of her life as she loves being a mother. Diaz is also glad she is experiencing this phase of life with her husband because he is always hands-on and takes care of her and their daughter.