Nicole Richie Played A Big Role In Cameron Diaz And Benji Madden's Relationship

When Cameron Diaz met her now-husband Benji Madden, she knew it was meant to be between them. "It was one of those things where everyone tells you, 'You just know when you know,'" she said during an appearance on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM channel "Radio Andy" in 2016 (via E! News). "I was like, 'What does that mean? Oh, I get it. You just know when you know.' Like you're my husband."

However, the person who takes credit for bringing Diaz and Madden together is Nicole Richie, who said in a July 2014 episode of "Watch What Happens Live" (via ABC News) that she is responsible for setting them up. Richie introduced Diaz and Madden to each other in May 2014. Diaz said on the "Anna Farris is Unqualified" podcast in September 2021 that, as soon as she met Madden, she was immediately attracted to him. "I saw him walking towards me and I was like, 'Huh, he's hot, I haven't seen him before,'" she recalled. "But then when I saw him, like who he was, that's what made me really be like, 'Oh you, you're special, you're the guy, you're the hidden gem in my life.'"

Richie, who's been married to Madden's twin brother, Joel, since December 2010, said she approves of her brother-in-law's relationship with Diaz. "I approve of anything that's going to make Benj happy," she said on "WWHL." She added, "I am a devoted sister-in-law and I am happy for anybody who's happy. I want everyone to be surrounded with love."

Since being introduced by Benji Madden's sister-in-law, Nicole Richie, Madden and Cameron Diaz are now loving married life. The couple was wed in January 2015 in their living room, and they've since had two kids together, Raddix, born in December 2019, and Cardinal, whose birth the couple announced in March 2024. In an Instagram Live posted by Katherine Power in 2020 (via People), Diaz expressed joy about her life with Madden and as a parent. "I'm so, so grateful and so happy and it's the best thing ever and I'm so lucky to get to do it with Benji and we're just having the best time," she said. "It's so great. I'm just thrilled."

Meanwhile, now that Diaz is related to Richie, she's also kept a strong bond with her sister-in-law. Their close friendship has been displayed as far as Diaz willingly reenacting a scene from "My Best Friend's Wedding" while they were together in a Chicago airport, Richie said on the "Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino" podcast in June 2024. "We were in Chicago and I said to her, 'Cameron, I need you to give it to me,'" she recalled. "'I need you to get behind the luggage cart and run towards me, towards the airport.'"