Cameron Diaz turns 42 today, and if there's one thing the birthday lady is known for (besides her sex appeal), it's how outspoken she is about being a proud single woman. And she's in good company. Not all women are committed to the institution of marriage. With career success, friendships, travel, or other hobbies taking priority, many women don't have bridal on the brain. Or, perhaps experience has helped some decide traditional relationships just won't work for them. Famous women often make headlines when they say "I don't" to marriage, kids, or other trappings of a conventional happily ever after. To balance out mainstream marriage mania, here are a few of the more articulate quotes from celebrities with alternative views on relationships.
"I think people get freaked out about getting married and spending 20 or 30 years sleeping with the same person but if that's the case, don't do it. Have someone for five years and another person for another five years."
"I’m attracted to men, and I love playing around with them. But a life shared together? That’s a different world. I think you have to be somebody who can compromise and be realistic. I could never do it. Ever."
"My sister [Emily] was always very motherly, babysitting and stuff. I like kids, and I like being around kids — but it was never an ambition, something, like, I need . . . I like working. That's what I like doing."
"I've always liked the idea of choosing to be with somebody. I thought that if you didn't get married you wouldn't take each other for granted as easily."
"It is about feeling that I still have my freedom, that I have choices. I don't look back on the past because I like to live in the present. I know this makes some people think I probably never cared, but I need my freedom and I like to keep moving."
— Juliette Binoche on the downside of long-term relationships
"I already have nine nieces and nephews, and I give a lot of myself to them . . . I’ve never been proposed to, and I don’t know that that’s in my future . . . I don’t know that I’m marriage material. I don’t know if I would ever want to be someone’s wife. It makes breaking up much more complicated."
"Without sounding pessimistic, I learned that I don’t believe in marriage. I believe in a commitment that you make in your heart. There’s no paper that will make you stay.”
"I actually think it's really sexy to be with someone in your fifties and sixties and be like, 'That's my boyfriend.' I think husband and wife is just . . . very unsexy."
"I used to get that question all the time: Why haven't you married Stedman? Actually, Stedman asked me to marry him, and at first I said 'Yes!' but it turned out that I wanted to be asked to be married more than I wanted to be married."