10 Things You Didn't Know About Cameron Diaz

BettyConfidential reveals some little-known facts about the star of the new movie The Box.

- Louise Barile, BettyConfidential.com

She’s best known for her roles in romantic comedies, but Cameron Diaz is showing off another side of her personality playing a wife and mother tested by an eerie visitor in the new thriller The Box (opening on November 6). That’s not the only surprise that Cameron has up her sleeve — check out this list of 10 things you never knew about her.

1. She’s a dedicated environmentalist.
Cameron’s upbringing in industrial Long Beach, Calif., where she suffered from childhood asthma, played a role in making her environmentally aware. “I could see the flame from the refinery burning from my bedroom window," she told Marie Claire. "I remember my dad dusting all the time from all the dirt that came in." Cameron’s eco-consciousness goes beyond driving a Prius and shopping at a farmer’s market; she made a documentary earlier this year in which she interviewed people about their knowledge of environmental issues.

2. She doesn’t like signing autographs.
Cameron has explained her reasoning, saying that if she poses for a photo with one person or gives an autograph, then dozens of people will line up. And she has reportedly lectured fans about how dumb autographs are. "It's an interesting struggle," Cameron has said, "your needs versus people's desires.”

3. She’s admitted to having plastic surgery.
Cameron broke her nose four times while surfing, but finally had it fixed — for medical, not cosmetic reasons — in 2006. “I'd never do anything else,” she insisted to British Cosmopolitan. “I think beauty comes from the inside.”

4. She was discovered at a party.
Photographer Jeff Dunas met 16-year-old Cameron at a party and offered to help her become a model. “She has an energy, an electricity in her face, a sparkle that is unmistakable,” he recalled to People. She was signed by Elite Model Management within weeks and spent the next five years circling the globe as a fashion model.

5. She lucked into her first acting role.
Cameron scored her part as Tina in 1994's The Mask when her modeling agent sent her to an open audition. “I came out of it shaking, with sweaty palms, screaming, jumping up and down,” she recalled. “I just went, 'This is it. This is what I want to do.” It took 12 callbacks for her to win the role opposite Jim Carrey.

6. She loves Pamela Anderson.
Cameron admitted to The Advocate that she was a huge Baywatch fan growing up. “I had a major girl-crush on Pamela Anderson. Still do — she's hot as ever — but she was my first,” Cameron said. “When I first discovered her I was like, "Wow, she's so beautiful!"'

7. She is comfortable with never becoming a mom.
"I have three nieces and a nephew. I know what it's like," says Cameron, pictured at left with her sister, Chimene and her nieces. "I don't think it's a compromise to have children. I don't think it's a compromise not to. I think it's just a different choice."

8. She’s afraid of horror movies!
“I just can’t watch them. I can’t watch ’em. I hate horror movies,” she confessed to reporters at Comic-Con in July. She fears that any scary scene she sees will haunt her dreams.

9. She’s superstitious — up to a point.
“I knock on wood all day long... constantly,” Cameron told Cosmopolitan magazine. But she added, “I've also flown on Friday the 13th in a storm with a black cat on my lap, so I'm not that superstitious.” Cameron reportedly has a number of lucky charms including a necklace given to her by a friend that’s supposed to ward off the effects of aging. It seems to be working!

10. She’s in no rush to settle down.
Cameron — who dated Justin Timberlake, Matt Dillon and Jared Leto in the past and ended a relationship with British model Paul Sculfor (pictured) in the spring — insists she isn’t worried about finding Mr. Right. “People think if you’re single, you are incomplete,” the 37-year-old insisted to InStyle. “No. The thing is, I don’t want to be in a relationship that makes me incomplete.”

New York metro-based entertainment writer Louise Barile loves reality TV cooking competitions, movies with subtitles and cheesy vampire fiction.

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