Cameron Diaz Says She Was ‘Trying to Stay Alive Like Every Other Mother’ During Her Decade-Long Acting Hiatus

Cameron Diaz is making her big return to the screen after spending the last few years focused on motherhood.

In a behind-the-scenes interview from her new movie Back In Action, Diaz, who shares two kids, Cardinal, 10 months, and Raddix, 5, with husband Benji Madden, admitted she didn’t think she’d ever make another movie again until one call from costar Jamie Foxx changed her mind.

“How do you say ‘No’ to Jamie Foxx?” Diaz, 52, began. “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.”

During her hiatus, Diaz said “no to everything,” including any training or public appearances. Instead, she prioritized two things: her family and her wine company, Avaline.

“That was what I was putting most of my focus on,” Diaz explained. “If I was doing anything other than just sort of being a mom and living my day-to-day.”

“That was pretty much it,” she continued. “I’m just trying to stay alive just like every other mother. I’m just trying to keep it going.”

Diaz added that she hopes her new Netflix film will have children look at their parents and wonder if they did anything “cool” before they came along.

“One of those little fantasies that all parents have is that their kids could see them as they existed before they had all of the weight of the world of being a parent on them,” she shared. “Children just can’t see their parents that way.”

“And maybe, just maybe, their kids will believe them when they say, ‘Yeah, I was pretty cool,” she said.

Back in Action is Diaz’s first film since 2014’s Annie, in which she also starred with Foxx. They first shared the screen in 1999’s Any Given Sunday.

Diaz’s return to acting was first announced in June 2022. At the time, Foxx told Entertainment Tonight that he convinced her to make a return to acting by promising that the two would have fun.

“So it was literally, ‘Do you wanna have some fun? Just have some fun!’ And I think that’s what brought her to it,” said Foxx. “We miss special moments sometimes in our business, and I think this is a special moment. So we’re so happy that it’s happening and looking forward to it.”