Cameron Diaz has got people debating this week – and surprisingly it’s not about whether her film, The Holiday, is one of the best Christmas movies ever.
Instead, she’s got people focusing on her real-life romances after sharing a somewhat surprising tip about what she thinks is needed to make a marriage work.
The actress – who has given us some of the best looks over the years, since her breakout turn in The Mask in 1994 – appeared on a podcast earlier this week and revealed that she thinks the secret to marital bliss is separate bedrooms.
“We should normalise separate bedrooms. To me, I would literally, I have my house, you have yours,” she told the Lipstick on the Rim podcast, hosted by Molly Sims and Emese Gormley.
Responding to a comment about partners who snored during the night, she added, “We have the family house in the middle. I will go and sleep in my room. You go sleep in your room. I’m fine. And we have the bedroom in the middle that we can convene in for our relations.”
While it might not exactly seem like the stereotypical picture of a happily married couple, separate bedrooms is not as controversial as one might think – and, in fact, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip had their own bedrooms for most of their decorated, 70-year love story.
In 2012, Prince Phillip's cousin Lady Pamela Hicks spoke to the Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith. During that conversation, Hicks explained to Smith that in the Queen and Prince's circles, sleeping separately is the norm.
“In England, the upper class have always had separate bedrooms. You don’t want to be bothered with snoring or someone flinging a leg around.”
“Then when you are feeling cosy you share your room sometimes. It is lovely to be able to choose.”
Other celebrities who have come out in support of the separate room situation include Gwyneth Paltrow and her second husband, Brad Falchuk.
On the subject, Miami-based entrepreneur Eric Borukhin told Vanity Fair that sleeping in separate rooms is standard practice among the well-off.
“It’s a matter of convenience, if you can afford it,” Eric said. “If you can have that extra room, it’s basically a luxury.”
And many have come out in defence of Cameron’s suggestion online.
Users on X (formerly Twitter) have written, “Honestly, sounds like a great idea to me!” and “For everyone criticising her, she’s still happily married so… (shrug emoji).”
Cameron Diaz married Benji Madden, the guitarist for rock band Good Charlotte, in 2015 in Beverly Hills.
She told Harper’s Bazaar magazine, “[Marriage] was the biggest thing I’ve done in my 40s, and it opened me up in different ways. 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 couple have a daughter, Raddix, who was born in 2019.
