Cameron Diaz has been making the publicity rounds for her upcoming action flick, Knight and Day, popping up in lots of magazines (InStyle, Playboy, British Vogue) and giving the requisite thirtysomething actress interviews about getting older, finding love, working out, blah, blah, “It’s really important to feel strong and fit and healthy,†blah. But within those trite talking points, we’ve noticed a certain titillating edge creeping in: The lady clearly wants to talk about sex.
“Sexuality and love can be different things,†she told Playboy. “I can be attracted to a woman sexually, but it doesn’t mean I want to be in love with a woman.†Continuing, “It’s not unusual in this business; my lifestyle demands it. I’m always traveling for [whispers] cock. You’ve got to go where it is.†Okay, so this is Playboy, and interviewees are expected to open up about their sex lives; that’s the point. But she also gave this now-widely circulated quote to British Vogue: “The fountain of youth — I guess it’s exercise, healthy diet, lots of water, lots of laughter, lots of sex — yes, sex, we need that as human beings. It’s healthy, it’s natural, it’s what we are here to do!â€
As an old hand in the press game, Diaz (and her publicists) had to know that these were the quotes that were going to get picked up by other outlets. “Cameron Diaz Says Sex With a Woman Doesn’t Make You a Lesbian,†trumpeted a Daily News article. “Cameron Diaz: Lots of Sex Is My Fountain of Youth,†read an Us Weekly headline. So why go that route?
Is it that the 37-year-old actress, fearful of being supplanted by up-and-coming, hot twentysomething actresses, wants to remind America that she’s still appealingly sexy? (In the wise words of Cher in Clueless: “Sometimes you have to show a little skin. This reminds boys of being naked, and then they think of sex.â€) Or perhaps now that her Knight and Day co-star, Tom Cruise, has morphed into an oddity, Diaz is picking up the “come see our spicy action movie†slack. Which, considering Cruise seems to be using this movie to build back our trust (and not lure us into theaters with his iffy sex appeal), is probably a good strategy.