Women fear being shunned if they say they do not want children, Cameron Diaz has said.

The 36-year-old Hollywood actress said there were already enough people living on the planet.

But she also said she was not ruling out having children herself.

Diaz told Cosmopolitan magazine: "I think women are afraid to say that they don't want children because they're going to get shunned.

"But I think that's changing too now. I have more girlfriends who don't have kids than those that do.

"And honestly? We don't need any more kids. We have plenty of people on this planet."

On whether she wants children of her own, Diaz said: "I never say never. I don't know what's going to happen.

"I could end up adopting half a dozen kids, or I could end up being the next 'octomum'."

Diaz also praised Channel 4's The Sex Education Show, which was found last month by regulator Ofcom not to have breached broadcasting rules.

The pre-watershed programme is primarily aimed at young people, covering topics such as pornography, erectile dysfunction and contraception.

Diaz said: "I was in England recently and I caught this programme... The whole lot was on TV. It was amazing. And I was, like, that's what we need to do.

"We need to inform kids that it's not real for everyone to look a certain way...

"Boys expect girls to look like what they see, and vice versa. We're so inundated with images of what we should look like."

She continued: "I think there should be a disclaimer the same way there is on a pack of smokes - these people do not really look this way."

Speaking about potential boyfriends, she added: "What's changed from 10 years ago is that now I want a man who knows who he is.

"Someone who understands himself, has already dealt with his issues and who can say: 'I see where I've been foolish before and I'm not going to be like that again'."

The full interview appears in the July issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, on sale tomorrow.