Cameron Diaz opens up on return to Hollywood and dealing with ‘inappropriate’ behaviour after shock retirement

CAMERON DIAZ shocked Hollywood a decade ago when she retired from ­acting to start a family and “reclaim” her life.

The actress, then 42, had grown tired of the spotlight and had finally met her Mr Right in rock star Benji Madden after several high-profile relationships.

Now, after two children and years of rumoured movie returns, Cameron stars in the aptly titled Back In Action — which has broken streaming records.

In the Netflix action-comedy film, she plays a former CIA spy alongside Jamie Foxx as the pair have to confront their secret past after their aliases are exposed.

It had the biggest film debut on the platform since 2022, with a reported 46.8million views on its opening weekend.

Cameron is said to have agreed to shoot the movie providing she would not be on set for longer than ten hours a day, so that she could get home to her husband and their daughter ­Raddix, five, and ten-month-old son Cardinal.

She is reported to have been paid £35million to come out of retirement and make two movies for the streaming giant.

The actress has described her ­acting hiatus as “the best ten years” of her life but, now that she is back, she notes how much safer the industry feels since the #MeToo movement exposed rampant sexual abuse.

Cameron revealed: “The industry is so different. I mean, I definitely have to say that MeToo changed everything. You walk on to the set and it is different. There was always just like that one guy, you know, on set, that you were like, ‘God, here he comes again’.

‘Security and safety’

“There was always layers and layers of inappropriateness that you just kind of had to put up with.”

For Back In Action, Cameron was approached by human resources prior to filming to discuss appropriate behaviour, and provided with an “anonymous hotline” for cast and crew to report any issues.

She added: “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing’. The level of security and safety you feel as a woman now on set is great. I had never felt that before this film.”

Cameron’s debut acting role was in The Mask, starring a then-relatively unknown Jim Carrey, in 1994. But she has revealed she almost missed out on the life-changing part.

When she auditioned for the film, she was a model with no acting experience.

Producers wanted to cast the now-deceased Playboy pin-up Anna Nicole Smith in the role of glamorous nightclub singer Tina Carlyle.

Speaking on the Skip Intro podcast, Cameron said: “They wanted Anna Nicole Smith. That was who they wanted, because she had a name. Why wouldn’t they want her? She was like a huge star.”

But Nicole was reportedly told to turn down the role by her agent, leaving it open to Cameron.

The comic superhero ­comedy was a critical and commercial ­success, winning an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and established Cameron as a leading lady.

She said: “It was wild because when I did The Mask, I didn’t have an agent. I was with my ­modelling agency, Elite, and I didn’t know what acting would be for me.

“I literally just went on a casting call because I was a good model who always went on all my ­castings.”

Cameron went on to star in smash-hit romcoms My Best Friend’s Wedding, There’s Something About Mary and festive favourite The Holiday.

We’ve grown so much together over the past decade together and we’ve ­accomplished so much — and I don’t know how we would have done that without one another

Cameron Diaz on husband Benji

She kicked butt in the Charlie’s Angels movies with Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore and took on a grittier role in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs Of New York with Leonardo DiCaprio. But despite her model looks and huge success, Cameron’s romantic life at the time was a roller-coaster.

She dated her There’s Something About Mary co-star Matt Dillon from 1996 to 1998 and had a four-year ­relationship with singer Justin ­Timberlake until 2007, though there were rumours he cheated on her.

Cameron also had a one-year romance with ex-New York ­Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez in 2010.

But it was only when she was introduced to Good Charlotte guitarist Benji, 45, through their mutual friend Nicole Richie — the daughter of soul legend Lionel — that she believed she had found The One.

On their relationship, she said: “It’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I was older than him so the fact that I hadn’t found him before, you know what I mean?

"I was out there a lot longer than he was. But we’ve grown so much together over the past decade together and we’ve ­accomplished so much — and I don’t know how we would have done that without one another.”

Cameron’s final movie before her retirement was a 2014 adaptation of the musical Annie, which was panned ­critically.

In the same year, she released bestseller The Body Book, sharing her formula for becoming happier, healthier and stronger.

But, privately, she had become disillusioned with Hollywood and the public perception of her.

Speaking about that period, ­Cameron said people would often ask: “My God, are you OK? You’re turning 40. You’re an actress. What does that mean to you?’

“I was like, ‘What is ageing? Tell me, please’.” It prompted Cameron to take her break from acting and focus on her personal life.

She married Benji at their ­Beverly Hills mansion in 2015, launched organic wine range Avaline, and released The Longevity Book, examining the science of growing older.

Her eventual return to Hollywood was in part down to Benji.

Cameron explained: “My husband is so amazing and he said, ‘I just think it’s time for us to back you. Like, Let Mummy shine.

“Let us be your support, and let you do what you do, and let us be there for you’.

“That was a big encouragement. I was like, ‘All right, let’s do it’.”

 It’s weird making a movie and having to wait two years for it to come out. We had to stop filming because Jamie had a stroke. Then there was a writers’ strike, then an actors’ strike

Cameron Diaz

Netflix bosses also assured ­Cameron that she would not have to work longer than ten hours a day.

She revealed she told producers: “What’s the schedule going to be? Because Mum can’t work 12 hour days any more.

“I’m not going to spend 12 hours on a set any more.”

Another huge draw to Back In Action was co-star and pal Jamie Foxx, who she had worked with on Any Given Sunday and Annie.

‘Second nature’

But the movie seemed ill-fated when Jamie was rushed to hospital in Chicago after suffering a stroke in April 2023.

Thankfully, he made a full ­recovery, but then production was again delayed by the Hollywood writers’ strike over pay, which ran from May to September 2023.

Speaking on the Artist Friendly podcast with her brother-in-law Joel Madden, Cameron said: “It’s weird when you make a movie and have to wait two years for it to come out. We just had, you know, unfortunate circumstances.

“We had to stop filming at the end. Like we got two weeks short because Jamie had a stroke, which was crazy.

“And, you know, thank God he’s OK, which is really incredible.

“He miraculously recovered and is better than ever.

“But then the strike happened. There was a writers’ strike and actors’ strike.

“And so the whole year was taken up when we couldn’t film.”

Back In Action has spent the two weeks since its release at number one in the streaming charts — a feat only a handful of other films have achieved.

Cameron feels like she has never been away from acting.

She said: “It’s just the silliest metaphor. It’s like riding a bike. It really is. It’s like when you go back to something that you’ve just done — there’s so much of it that you don’t have to think about.

“I was like, ‘Oh man, I know how to hit my mark.

“I know what questions to ask the cameraman’.

“Being on the set was second nature to me.”