“I Thought I’d Be Married at 21,” Cameron Diaz Recounted Her Troubled Past Relationships Before Meeting Her True Love at 41

Meeting your life’s love may mean you must go through several relationships to discover what you want from your partner. Like many of us, Cameron Diaz had a history of dating the wrong men before she would eventually marry and have a child with “the one.” Diaz has always been an independent and powerful woman, so she wanted to forge her identity before forever tying herself to another person.

A dating history that counts many renowned celebs men

Being the beautiful and influential woman she is, Cameron Diaz has always been the target of courtship from many charming and famous men in Hollywood. Among the list of celebs she has dated, we can count the renowned actor Matt Dillon. The love between Cameron and Matt blossomed in 1995 when both of them were at the peak of their fame.

They met while filming their separate projects, but they didn’t start dating until the beginning of the following year. Though Diaz and Dillon kept things low-key in public, they occasionally made public remarks about their devotion to one another. However, after a few years of dating, they split up in 1998 as they were both active in professional businesses in different places, making distance tough to manage.

Years later, Dillon opened out about how he fell for Cameron at the time, stating, “I fell in love. Cameron was a muse for me.”

The mid to early-2000s was a great time, especially for the new Hollywood couples that emerged. Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake were iconic duos during that period. Since they first met in 2003, the pair had been all over the tabloids, and their whirlwind romance swiftly took off. They built an incredible bond, were very encouraging, and publicly cheered each other on.

Though things never seemed to get serious, neither side showed no sign of commitment. This, coupled with the fact that they were both popular, made them the object of numerous allegations and infidelity rumors, so they called it quits in 2007, issuing a public statement that would read, “in light of recent speculation, we ended our romantic relationship with continued love and respect for one another.”

Nonetheless, Cameron and Justin are still great friends, and they even worked together on the set of Bad Teacher, proving that there is no bad blood between them.

Following several past acquaintances and unconfirmed partnerships, Cameron went on to have brief relationships, including one with the British model Paul Sculfor, in 2008. Although they were frequently seen kissing and snuggling, their relationship only lasted a year when the model ditched Diaz in 2009 because she wouldn’t move to the UK.

Although Cameron’s affair with former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez would similarly be short-lived, it was one of the most well-known relationships in her career. It’s unknown how they first bonded, but before they started dating in the summer of 2010, they were frequently spotted at the same events.

The stars seemed to be having a great time together, but things ended abruptly in 2011, only one month after they made their romance public. However, Rodriguez said after splitting up with the actress, “I don’t like talking about my relationships, but I will tell you about Cameron. She’s probably one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met and just an amazing light.”

Cameron didn’t envision getting married to anybody.

Even though Diaz dated several famous men in her twenties and thirties, she didn’t prioritize marriage until she was 40. The fact that she hadn’t found the right match was the main obstacle preventing her from committing herself sincerely to someone. In an interview, she acknowledged, “I had boyfriends before, and there’s a really, really distinct difference between husbands and boyfriends.”

Other than that, the actress had frequently spoken about how much she had prioritized her job over marriage and children for a long time, “I thought I was going to be married and have 2 children by the time I was 21. But then my career was starting to take off, and there were still so many things I wanted to do.”

“It just wasn’t the thing I was drawn to,” Diaz confessed when asked about marriage. “I certainly didn’t want it in my 20s. Or my 30s.” However, Cameron’s life changed course when she met the guy who would become the love of her life and a father to her children. After all, when the right one comes along, we recognize it, and Cameron did as well, “I never experienced that before. I’d never been loved in that way.”

The man of her life

Everyone was surprised when Cameron met her future husband, Benji Madden, in 2014 since no one expected her ever to settle, but she did, marrying Benjamin in 2015. “You have to find someone in the same place as you are. Timing is everything,” Diaz admitted.

Cameron had not expected to marry, especially after reaching her forties, but everything changed when she married Madden. “It’s pretty awesome. I didn’t think it was something I’d do, and I don’t know if I’d have done it if I hadn’t met my husband. It was a surprise.”

The pair are more in love than ever and recently celebrated their 8-year-anniversary alongside their beautiful daughter Raddix, who they welcomed in 2020. Before having her daughter, Diaz used the excuse that it would be too much work to have children. She now admits that having a child was the most fantastic thing that has happened to her and her husband.

Cameron had spent her whole life focusing on herself and her career until she knew the right time had come. “You make the same mistake over and over again until you learn your lesson,” and she seems to have grasped it when she decided to devote herself entirely to starting a family.

Do you think there’s a right age to get married? Do you envision yourself having a family?