Cameron Diaz thought it was hilarious last year when the paparazzi thought she’d shaved her head. In My Sister’s Keeper, Diaz plays the mother of a girl with cancer, and at one point in the film her character takes out the clippers out of solidarity with her daughter.
Of course, mix Diaz, a bald cap and an outdoor film shoot with photographers who watch her every move hovering, and what you get is an inevitable brouhaha.
“They say what they want to say to sell their pictures,” says Diaz, who’s no stranger to odd claims being published about her. But she still has her flowing blonde locks today, thankfully.
“If I shaved my head and my hair was this long right now, they would have me in a lab somewhere,” she jokes.
“Kerastase or L’Oreal would have already taken me somewhere.”
Bald caps aside, the film involved taking on some heavy subject matter. After Diaz’s character discovers her daughter’s condition, she makes the controversial decision to have another child for the express purpose of providing the blood, tissue and marrow to save her older child’s life.
For the actress, part of taking on such a complex, serious role successfully means being able to leave work at the office at the end of the day.
“You have to put things to the side and you have to be yourself and be who you are and be with the people who support you,” she says. And as casual as she tries to be, all this work dealing with terminal illness still got into her head.
“It makes you really think about what you’re putting into your body and what’s out there that can damage you,” Diaz says. “There is a reason. It can’t just be coincidence that everyone’s getting sick.”
• My Sister’s Keeper is in theatres next Friday.
– For movie trailers, photos and screen times, or to buy tickets, click here
