Cameron Diaz “met” her husband Benji Madden after practically knowing him for years—he’s the twin brother of Joel Madden, the husband of her close friend Nicole Richie. For some reason, it took one special night to finally open her eyes and really see him as a romantic option, and she’s never looked back.
The couple have had a whirlwind romance that’s lasted nearly a decade and includes marriage and a child. They aren’t terribly public or present on social media, but here’s their complete relationship timeline so far.
May 2014
Diaz and Madden had been in similar social circles before and knew one another as celebrities, but they officially “met” at a party hosted by Diaz at her house when he accompanied her friends Nicole Richie and Joel Madden.
“Joel said, ‘Hey, can my brother come over?’” Diaz said later. “And I said, ‘Of course, it’s family, we’re having a barbecue’ and then [Benji] walked in the door and I was like—you! You!”
October 2014
Rumors of an engagement began six months later in October when Diaz was seen wearing an engagement ring.
December 2014
The couple finally confirmed their engagement just before Christmas that year.
“Everyone thinks it’s wild but are so happy for them,” a source told Us Weekly. “Benji always tends to fall in love easily, but this time it’s for real, and he landed a great girl. They obviously both make each other incredibly happy, and there’s nothing better than that.”
January 2015
The pair were married on Jan. 5, 2015, less than 10 months after they started dating. The wedding was held in Beverly Hills with a guest list that included Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lionel Richie, Judd Apatow, and Drew Barrymore.
“We couldn’t be happier to begin our new journey together surrounded by our closest family and friends,” the couple said in a statement at the time.
“[Marriage] was the biggest thing I’ve done in my 40s, and it opened me up in different ways,” Diaz told Harper’s Bazaar later. “It’s pretty awesome. I didn’t think it was something I’d do, and I don’t know if I’d have done it if I hadn’t met my husband. It was a surprise.”
March 2015
In March 2015, Madden debuted a photo of his new chest tattoo of Diaz’s first name, writing in a now-deleted post “thinking about you.”
April 2016
In April 2016, Diaz told Andy Cohen on his Sirius XM Radio that finding her husband has changed her life.
“Nothing matters now that I have my husband,” she said. “Like that’s the thing, that’s how I know he’s my husband because no one compares. You realize like, ‘Oh right, this is what the real thing is, this is what real love is and this is what commitment and devotion is.’”
June 2017
Over a year later, she felt the same, telling the audience at Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Summit, “I have a husband who is just my partner in life and in everything. [But] talk about two very different people! We are so different from one another, but we share the same values—we’re totally two peas in a pod.”
August 2017
The feeling is mutual, and Madden celebrated his wife’s birthday later that summer, calling himself the “luckiest guy alive.”
“I don’t think anyone could ever know the Depth, Kindness, and Compassion that I get to experience everyday thanks to My One and Only,” he wrote. “You got me til the end baby.”
April 2018
He celebrated her again in a pic in 2018, captioning it simply, “True love.”