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’.

“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. 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.”. Has your favourite film made the top 10?.

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?’.