Cameron Diaz © Presley Ann

Cameron Diaz reveals that her husband Benji Madden encouraged her to return to acting

Diaz retired from acting in 2014, focusing instead on her family and her businesses. 


Senior Writer
OCTOBER 16, 2024 12:26 PM EDT

Cameron Diaz took a step back from acting for a decade. In recent years, the actress has been open about her struggles with the entertainment industry, and her decision to take a step back and focus on her family, made up of her husband Benji Madden, and her children, Raddix and Cardinal

© Ricky Vigil M

Cameron Diaz and her husband Benji Madden

Diaz attended Fortune's Most Powerful Women's Summit earlier this week, where she opened up about the decision to step back from acting and now, return to it. Stopping acting “was something I just had to do. It felt like the right thing for me to do to reclaim my own life and I just really didn’t care about anything else. 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," she said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

She also made it clear that Madden helped her return to it, encouraging her to do the thing she loved and spent most of her life doing. “It was just the right time for my family," she said of returning to acting. “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 Mommy ascend and do her thing.’ He’s like, ‘Let me see you do it girl.’ I was like, ‘Alright, here we go.'” 

Diaz's upcoming movie with Jamie Foxx 

© Courtesy of Netflix

Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx in 'Back in Action'

Diaz and Jamie Foxx are starring in "Back in Action," a Netflix action-comedy that stars both actors as retired spies forced back into the game when their secret identities are exposed. Diaz and Foxx are close friends, having worked in the films "Annie" and "Any Given Sunday" together. She revealed that the opportunity to act with Foxx again was also an encouraging factor.  “[I] couldn’t say no to Jamie. He said, ‘Come with me’ and I said, ‘OK let’s do it;’ it’s our third film together so it’s really great," she said.