Cameron Diaz on breaking 'toxic' habits and embracing her body: ‘Why am I going to talk down to it and be mean to it?'
Cameron Diaz isn’t immune to the pressures of society's beauty standards.
The In Her Shoes star, 49, appeared on Michelle Visage’s Rule Breakers podcast, where she spoke about whether she has ever changed her appearance to appease societal ideals. Diaz explained, “I am absolutely a victim of all of the societal objectifications and exploitations that women are subjected to. I have bought into all of them myself at certain times. It is hard not to look at yourself and judge yourself against certain markers of beauty.”
The actress, who has stepped out of the Hollywood spotlight to raise her daughter Raddix with husband Benji Madden, added, “I think that’s one of the biggest things of the last eight years. I’m like a wild animal, like a beast. I don’t care. It’s the last thing I think about on a daily basis.”
Diaz, who founded the clean wine brand Avaline, explained that she quiets the noise around aging by looking in mirrors less frequently — something she could rarely avoid as an actor who sometimes had to sit in front of one for “seven hours a day.”
“You’re just sitting in front of the mirror, and it’s toxic. You just start to pick yourself apart,” she recalled. “You’re like, ‘Why am I sitting here being so mean to myself?’”
She added, “My body is strong. My body is capable. Why am I going to talk down to it and be mean to it when it’s carried me this far? It’s given me this much experience. All the things I’ve gotten to do because my body has taken me there, been strong enough to get me there. Why am I going to abuse it and be mean to it? It’s not to say I haven’t done those things, but when I am in there, I’m like, ‘Wait, let’s really think about it.’”
The Body Book author, who celebrates a milestone birthday this year, noted, “I’m going to be 50 this year. Isn’t that so exciting? I can’t wait. I can’t wait to be 50. I just know more. I’ve done so much.”
Diaz was not afraid to turn 40, either. At an event for her book The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time in 2016, she explained, "When I was 39 in interviews, people kept asking me, 'Aren't you scared to turn 40?' And I was like, 'Do you know something? Should I be scared? What's going to happen?' I was like, 'I feel great! What am I supposed to be afraid of?’"
The Charlie’s Angels alum also previously shared her thoughts on changing her looks with cosmetic surgery, telling Entertainment Tonight in 2014, “I've tried [Botox] before, where it was like [a] little tiny touch of something. It changed my face in such a weird way that I was like, 'No, I don't want to [be] like [that].’ I'd rather see my face aging than a face that doesn't belong to me at all."
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