Cameron Diaz Says She Stepped Back From Acting To Make Her Life 'Manageable'

Aug 16, 2021 by apost team

Cameron Diaz was one of Hollywood's top actresses for years, but in recent years she's stepped away from the spotlight. At the height of her career, Diaz was one of the most sought after celebrities and starred in major blockbusters such as "Charlie's Angels," the "Shrek" franchise, "The Holiday" and "Bad Teacher" among a myriad of other titles that have cemented Diaz's reputation as a Hollywood A-lister. 

The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Diaz's career was so huge that in 2013 that she was the highest-paid female actor over 40. Naturally then, it came as a surprise for many fans that Diaz chose to step back from the spotlight in 2014 after she starred in the remake of "Annie," in which she starred as Miss Hannigan. Her last movie was not a hit, but this was not a deciding factor in Diaz's decision to leave behind acting.

While speaking to Gwyneth Paltrow in 2020, Diaz revealed that she sought "peace" and leaving behind acting was the best decision for her. It seemed to have worked out well for the actress — she married Benji Madden in 2015 and welcomed daughter Reddix in 2019. She was able to give herself to her family fully and has been able to pursue projects she wants. 

Diaz opened up once again about her decision to Kevin Hart on his Peacock TV Show "Hart to Heart" on August 12, 2021, where she delved deeper into her reasons for leaving acting, and how her life has changed since then. We are taking a look at what the actress discussed in her interview below. 

On his latest segment of the show "Hart to Heart," Kevin Hart asked Diaz, "Why did Cameron Diaz step away from the world of acting? What is it that motivated you to stop?" PEOPLE reported that Diaz responded by saying "when you do something at a really high level for a long period of time," other parts of you have "to sort of be handed off to other people."

According to the Independent, she continued and said this included “different parts of my life, my home, every aspect, from finance, just the management of me as a human being, not me as Cameron Diaz the machine”.

The star added, "For my personal, spiritual self, I was realising that that one part of me that functioned at a high level wasn’t enough. It’s fun to do, I love it, I love acting, I could go forever, I sometimes feel like I have unlimited energy and inertia."

Diaz elaborated that at the age of 40 however, she realized that there were "so many parts of my life ... that I wasn't touching and that I wasn't managing and I couldn’t really manage, because everything was so massive."

"I have a lot of great friends and incredible people who supported me for so long, and I believe it’s about the people you have in your life who help you keep things moving," she continued, adding that she also had people in her life "who were not serving my best interests always, but you don’t have time to figure those things out if you are just going with blinders on, you’re in the tunnel." 

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In the end, for Diaz, it was about simplifying her life. "I just really wanted to make my life manageable by me. My routine in a day is literally what I can manage to do by myself. It’s the best feeling, I feel whole," Diaz told Hart. 

Her decision to retire from acting also gave Diaz more time to spend with her family, and she reiterated the same fact on the talk show.

"I met my husband, we started a family, all the things I didn’t have time for before, and not just the time for but didn’t have the space to make the decisions, the right decision for me at the time," she remarked. 

Diaz had previously also opened up to Gwyneth Paltrow about her decision to retire from acting in August 2020. In the nearly hour-long video podcast, which was streamed over YouTube on Goop's channel, the two actresses engage in a casual conversation that covers a myriad of topics. Speaking about leaving acting, Diaz said:

"I got a peace in my soul, because I finally was taking care of myself." 

Speaking further on the topic, Diaz discussed that the pressure of carrying multi-million dollar films was "overwhelming" and that actors were coddled and she wanted to prove that she could be a self-sufficient adult. She said:

"I stopped and really looked at my life. When you're making a movie, they own you. You're there for 12 hours a day for months on end, you have no time for anything else. I really needed to know that I could take care of myself, that I knew how to be an adult."

What do you think of Cameron Diaz's decision to retire from acting? Do you have a favorite movie that stars her? Tell us about it, and be sure to ask others about their favorite movie as well.