Cameron Diaz Says She’s Dealt with ‘Layers of Inappropriateness’ on Sets: ‘It Wasn’t Just the Higher-Ups’

Cameron Diaz is reflecting on how Hollywood has changed for women since the #MeToo movement.

The Back in Action actress spoke about her return to movies after a 10-year hiatus while on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast, at one point expressing how the job has more “security and safety” than earlier in her career.

“The industry is so different. I mean, I definitely have to say that the #MeToo movement changed everything. It’s palpable,” she told host Krista Smith on the Jan. 17 episode. “You walk onto the set and it is different.”

“It wasn’t just the higher-ups, you know what I mean? There was always just like that one guy, you know, on set that you were always going, ‘Oh God, here he comes again,’ ” the Charlie’s Angels actress explained.

Diaz said there were “always layers and layers of inappropriateness” that she and other women had to laugh off and put up with.

“Some people you have to be forceful with and put up the boundaries. Others, you can’t give them the time of day,” she said. “But it has changed. It’s not the same.”

The star, who had her breakout role in 1994’s The Mask, added, “I’ve never in my entire career had HR come in prior to a movie and talk about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior and a hotline, which Netflix has, to call anonymously to report any issues that you might be feeling. I was like, ‘Wow, that is amazing.’ “

“The level of security and safety you feel as a woman now on set is — I had never felt that before this film,” said Diaz of Back in Action, her first film since doing 2014’s Annie remake. “… #MeToo happened several years after I stopped making movies.”

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Additionally, Diaz said “our generation” of women in Hollywood were “so conditioned to walking the tightrope.”

“And tightropes are dangerous,” she continued. “But when you get good at walking the tightrope and you can, like, manage it all, there is some sort of empowerment that you feel. But it’s a false sense of empowerment, because what you’re really doing is just staving off the inevitable, which is at any moment something could crush you that’s bigger than you.”

“That’s not safe. That’s not safety. That’s just you doing your best and pushing what we have as women, which is power in ourselves, to not be crushed as much as you can,” said Diaz.

“But here we are: We’re on a more level playing field than we’ve ever been on, and it feels different. And that’s a really important thing. That’s truly a powerful thing.”