Cameron Diaz is opening up about her decade-long hiatus from acting!
As you know, the actress had a very lucrative career in the industry for years, from huge hits like The Mask, Shrek, and Charlie’s Angels to wilder swings like Vanilla Sky and The Counselor. Then in 2014, she co-starred in the big-screen update of classic musical Annie — and decided she was good. We didn’t see her on the big screen again for over 10 years! Not until she signed on for her new movie Back In Action.
But what did she do in the years between? During a behind-the-scenes interview for Back In Action, Cameron got real about her break from Hollywood. In fact, it wasn’t supposed to be a break, it was supposed to be full-on retirement! The Other Woman star said she planned on never making a movie again:
“I was perfectly happy, you know, just living my life. Doing other things, you know, like day in and day out, not movies.”
However, one phone call from her co-star Jamie Foxx changed everything:
“How do you say ‘No’ to Jamie Foxx when he says, ‘Hey I’ve got this big action comedy that we can just have so much fun on. If there’s anyone I’m going to go back and spend months on end on set having a ball and laughing with, it would be Jamie. And here we are. Back in action.”
Before her return, Cameron said she was saying “no to everything.” She didn’t keep up with “any kind of training” or do anything “public.” However, the Golden Globes nominee didn’t just sit around and do nothing for the past decade! She launched a wine company called Avaline!
Other than working on her business, though, she was mainly focused on one thing and one thing only — her family. During this time off, she also got married to rocker Benji Madden, and they went on to have two kids: a 5-year-old daughter named Raddix and a 10-month-old son named Cardinal. And like any mom, Cameron said she was “just trying to stay alive” each day:
“That was what I was putting most of my focus on. If I was doing anything other than just sort of being a mom and living my day-to-day. That was pretty much it. I’m just trying to stay alive just like every other mother. I’m just trying to keep it going.”
