Diaz was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie (née Early), an import-export agent, and Emilio Diaz (1949–2008), born in Los Angeles County, who worked for the California oil company UNOCAL for more than 20 years as a field gauger, and in the pipeline department, until he retired in 1998. Her father was a second-generation Cuban American (her grandparents settled in Tampa's Ybor City)and her mother is of English, German and Cherokee ancestry. She has one older sister, Chimene Diaz. She attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as rapper Snoop Dogg.
Diaz received "substantial" defamation damages from suing American Media Incoporated, after The National Enquirer had claimed she was cheating on then-boyfriend Timberlake.
In 1992 Diaz appeared in a soft-core S&M video entitled "She's No Angel" shot by photographer John Rutter. In 2003 she won an injunction against Rutter preventing him from distributing the video or accompanying photographs, however in 2004 the video began being distributed online through a Russian website.
When Diaz was asked if she can speak Spanish she said:
“ I go, 'God, you know, it all sounds so familiar. I know what you're saying, I really do. I just cannot respond to you back in Spanish. I can barely speak English properly.' I didn't grow up in a Cuban community. I grew up in Southern California on the beach, basically. And I'm third generation. I'm of Cuban descent.[16] ”
The actress was vocal in her support for Al Gore in 2000. Diaz went so far as sporting a t-shirt that read "I won't vote for a son of a Bush!" while making the publicity rounds for Charlie's Angels.
Diaz has also been involved with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the first and largest nonprofit for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and has spoken as an advocate for military families.
Although she was quoted in a 1997 Time Magazine article saying she was germophobic,[18] Diaz specifically denied this on the June 26, 2009 edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, saying that a small comment she made 12 years earlier regarding public bathroom doorknobs was blown out of proportion.
On April 15, 2008, her father, Emilio Diaz, died of pneumonia, aged 58.
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