Cameron Diaz - Cameron Diaz has always been an independent woman

Cameron Diaz has always been an independent woman

Cameron Diaz has always been an independent person.

The 40-year-old actress says her parents instilled discipline into her from an early age as they said it was important she could look after herself in any situation.

In an interview in the UK edition of Esquire magazine, she said: ''I learned to do everything from a very young age. My parents were like, 'You're going to be yourself.' So everything from doing the laundry, to cooking, to cleaning the entire house, scrubbing toilets, picking up the dog sh*t. And, things were done right. Everything was checked. It wasn't fun, but my parents could have sold us when we were two or three and broken even ... So we had to pay off!''

As well as making her self-reliant, Cameron says her parents told her to be sensible, especially when it came to her career.

Speaking about when she was first modelling, the blonde beauty said: ''My mama always told me that nothing's for free. I had girlfriends that had producer boyfriends who were like, 'We can go to his house and take his jet.' But I was like, even if I don't do anything with these guys at the house, everyone who sees me with them just assumes that I did. So that costs me. So actually, it's not for free. So thank you for the invitation, but I don't want to pay the price.''