Cameron Diaz still feels her father's presence everywhere.

The 'Bad Teacher' actress - whose dad Emilio Diaz passed away two years ago aged 58 - admits she was unprepared of the devastation she would feel when he died, but has gradually come to terms with her loss.

She told Britain's Vogue magazine: "There was this period of terrible numbness. And it's impossible for anyone to know what's it like until it happens to you. It had happened to friends of mine and I'd go, 'Oh, I'm so sorry', but in reality? How could I be truly sorry when I didn't know what it meant?

"No one can ever underestimate how devastating it is. But at the same time what I've learnt about losing someone so close is that my life is full of his presence."

The 37-year-old blonde beauty was always close to her father, and thinks he helped her learn to survive because he taught her how to defend herself growing up.

She said: "You got picked on if you didn't stand up for yourself or take what was coming at you. And as my dad always said, your bite needs to be as good as your bark."