Speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit 2024 at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, California on October 14, Cameron Diaz offered insight into her decision to take a decade-long hiatus from acting after starring in her last film, Annie, in 2014.
“It felt like the right thing for me to reclaim my own life. And I just really didn’t care about anything else,” she said.
“Nobody’s opinion, nobody’s success, no-one’s offer, no-one’s anything could change my mind about my decision of taking care of myself and building the life that I really wanted to have. It really comes to: what are you passionate about? For me, it was to build my family.”
After scoring her big break opposite Jim Carrey in 1994’s The Mask, Diaz had become one of the most bankable actresses in Hollywood, earning around $63 million for raunchy comedy Bad Teacher in 2011 thanks to a lucrative back-end deal.
Then, in 2015, she married rocker Benji Madden, semi-retiring soon after.
In late 2019, the pair welcomed their first child together via surrogate – a daughter named Raddix – and in March this year, the couple announced the arrival of their second child, a son named Cardinal.
“I couldn’t be where I’m at as a mother … to have to be on a movie set that takes 14 hours, 16 hours of my day away from my child,” Diaz said on Quarantined with Bruce in February 2021.
“I wouldn’t have been the mum that I am now had I chosen to do that at any other time in my life.”
Diaz, 52, who in 2020 co-partnered to launch her own organic wine company, Avaline, first teased her Hollywood comeback with an Instagram post in June 2022, announcing her starring role in Netflix comedy Back in Action, set to stream in January 2025.
The film co-stars her now three-time collaborator Jamie Foxx, who she previously worked with on Annie and Any Given Sunday.
“I couldn’t say no to Jamie,” Diaz noted during the Fortune conversation.
“He said, ‘Come with me.’ And I was like, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ It’s our third film together.” More pressingly, she listened to her heart again.
“It was just the right time for my family. After COVID, we were in the house for a long time, which was amazing, and the problem was we would probably stay there – we would still be there right now. People would be like, ‘It’s over,’ and I’d be like, ‘No, it’s not – it’s not over for me.’
“So, I had to push myself. My husband and I – my husband, who is the best – he was like, ‘You’ve been supporting us and building the family’ and supporting him in his businesses, he’s like, ‘It’s time for us to support you and let Mummy ascend and do her thing.’”
Also on the horizon for Diaz is a return to the Shrek franchise, which is developing a fifth animated movie that will see her once again provide the voice for the character of Princess Fiona, as well as upcoming Apple TV+ dark comedy Outcome, co-starring Keanu Reeves and directed by Jonah Hill.
There’s even the possibility of a return to one of her most famous roles. Diaz’s Charlie’s Angels co-star Drew Barrymore recently spoke about a potential reboot of the series on her talk show when interviewing director Zoë Kravitz.
If it came to be, perhaps Diaz would also return.
Having the enthusiastic support of her husband, says Diaz, is key.
“He’s like, ‘Let me see you do it, girl,’” she joked. “I was like, ‘All right, here we go.’”
