Cameron Diaz has credited her close friend Gwyneth Paltrow for persuading her to become a mother.

Charlie's Angels star Cameron, 53, and her Good Charlotte rocker husband Benji Madden, 47, announced they had welcomed their third child on Monday. Their son Nautas Madden joins older sister Raddix, six, and brother Cardinal, two.

But the actress has admitted that she was not convinced she would ever have children, and it was only years of conversations with Gwyneth and her husband Benji that persuaded her.  

During a 2022 episode of Gwyneth's Goop podcast, Cameron said that her pal, who is mom to Apple, 21, and Moses, 20, had spent their whole friendship praising her mothering tendencies. 

'It's my favourite thing I've ever done, it's my whole existence, you were right!' Cameron admitted of motherhood as Gwyneth reminded her of 'those conversations back in the day, you saying "I'm not sure I want a kid"'.

'You were like "you're going to have a child if it's the last thing you do! Yes you are!"' Cameron laughed. 'I was not convinced I was going to.'

'Of all the people, you just had to be a mother,' insisted Gwyneth. 'Not everybody wants to do it and that's great but I knew you were one, I just had to pull her out of you.'

Cameron thanked her friend and told her 'I love you for that, I think about it all the time and I totally give you credit. You and Benji, the two of you, if it wasn't for him I obviously wouldn't [have become a mother]' 

In another conversation with Gwyneth in 2020, shortly after the birth of her first child Raddix, Cameron admitted that 'being a mother at the age that I am, I don't think I could have been this parent at 25.'

'I was just scared. I was afraid. I was afraid I wouldn't find a partner,' she said. 'I had no luck - you know, I didn't have people that I, in my life prior to that.'

Cameron said she also wanted 'different things out of life' when she turned 40, prompting her retirement from acting and her retreat from the spotlight. 

She met Benji at the age of 41 at a 2014 event attended by his twin brother, Joel Madden, and his wife, Nicole Richie.  

The couple married less than a year after meeting, with the actress admitting 'We got married pretty much immediately because we realised we just had to do it.'

They then 'went hard for a few years where we just ironed [our relationship] out, hacked it out. It was a lot of work, but we had to.'

She added, 'I'm older than him, not a lot older, but he was at the place in his life where he also wanted to do that as well.'

Just days before the surprise birth announcement this week, Cameron expressed her fears about being an older mother, admitting she is friends with other moms 'literally 20 years younger.' 

Reflecting on her decade-long acting hiatus during which she prioritised her marriage and children, Cameron said becoming a mother for the first time at the age of 47 has only made her more focused on ageing well. 

'I love being a mother. It's the best, best, best part of my life. The only pressure for me now is I have to live to be, like, 107, you know?'  

'The women who have children my age are literally 20 years younger and that's an interesting place to be because I'm not that age' she told OK! Magazine. 

 'And that's totally OK - but I want to feel vital like that for my child. I'm just trying to stay alive just like every other mother.'