Cameron Diaz pulled the curtain back on her decision to withdraw from show business once she entered her 40s.
The 47-year-old, whose last film was the 2014 remake of Annie, discussed her life choices while chatting to Gwyneth Paltrow for Goop.
During the interview Cameron revealed she left the movies to ‘focus on my personal life’ and ‘become self-sufficient again’ as ‘actors are infantilized’ in Hollywood.
New phase: Cameron Diaz pulled the curtain back on her decision to withdraw from show business once she entered her 40s
The major life change allowed to to find ‘peace in my soul because I was finally taking care of myself,’ Cameron revealed.
‘I just decided that I wanted different things out of my life. You know, I’d gone so hard for so long, working, you know, making films and it’s such a grind, and I didn’t really make any space for my personal life,’ she explained.
‘And then I decided not to – you know, to stop making movies, and really focus on my personal life, my personal relationships with my family, my friends. And then Benj and I met each other and we got married pretty much immediately, ‘cause we both knew that we had to kinda like, we both had to do it.’
Cameron married Benji Madden of Good Charlotte fame in 2015 after a 10-month romance, and this January they welcomed their firstborn daughter Raddix.
Candor: The 47-year-old discussed her life choices while chatting to Gwyneth Paltrow in a new interview for Goop
‘We went hard for a few years where we just like ironed it out and hacked it out, and it was a lot of work but it was really you know, we had to,’ she said of the marriage.
‘I’m older than him, but not so much older, but he was at the place in his life too where he wanted to do that as well,’ added Cameron.
She feels ‘grounded and light’ after her departure from the movies, telling Gwyneth: ”It’s a strange thing to say. I know a lot of people won’t understand it – I know you understand it – but it’s such a, and it’s so intense to work at that level and be that public and put yourself out there.’
Cameron, who voiced Princess Fiona in the Shrek franchise, continued: ‘There’s a lot of energy coming at you at all times, when you’re really, you know, visible as an actor and doing, you know, press and putting yourself out there.’
No holds barred: During the interview Cameron revealed she left the movies to ‘focus on my personal life’ and ‘become self-sufficient again’ as ‘actors are infantilized’ in Hollywood
She went on: ‘And you really energetically – I’m sensitive to energy, some energies and not others – but it does, I do get the overwhelming energy of the attention that’s being, you know, put towards me.’
Said she: ‘I really looked at my life, and I saw what I had been. ‘Cause when you’re making a movie, it’s the perfect excuse. They own you. You’re there 12 hours a day for months on end. You have no time for anything else.’
Cameron ultimately ‘realized I handed off parts of my life to all these other people, and they were – they took it, you know. And some people did – I had to basically take it back, you know, and take responsibility for my own life.’
The There’s Something About Mary actress shared: ‘That’s my job. You know, there’s a lot of things that I had to iron out and a lot of relationships I had to repair, a lot of relationships I had to build you know, that I was absent in my life.’
Throwback: Cameron’s last film was the 2014 remake of Annie; she is pictured in the movie playing the villainous Miss Hannigan
Cameron confessed: ‘Actors are infantilized, you know? We’re put in a position where everything’s taken care of for us.’
She elaborated: ‘You know, you go to set, everybody wants to carry your bag and put you in – you know, you’re not allowed to do anything.God forbid something happens to you, then they can’t finish making the movie and you’re already on film, and you know, insurance days and like all of these things.’
The result is that ‘overwhelmingly your life just becomes so narrow. And people you know, everybody’s doing things for you, and you’re catered around and you know, I never felt really, truly comfortable with that. That wasn’t my comfort zone, was to sort of be, you know, taken care of but I understood it was part of the job.’
Side by side: Cameron married Benji Madden of Good Charlotte fame in 2015 after a 10-month romance, and this January they welcomed their firstborn daughter Raddix
However eventually ‘for me, I needed to become self-sufficient again, you know? I really needed to know that I could take care of myself, and that I knew how to be an adult and I knew how to, you know, navigate the world of the complexity of being an adult and having responsibility and putting all the pieces of my life together the way that I wanted it to be put together, not how other people thought it should go.’
Cameron also said warmly to Gwyneth: ‘I would not have become a mother if it wasn’t for you. You used to talk, I’d be like: “I’m not having kids.” And you’re like: “You are having kids, you’re getting married, you’re having children.”
She shared: ‘And I was like: “No, I’m not!” And you’re like: “You have to do it, you have to!” And I was like: “I’m not gonna do it.”‘
Looking back: The There’s Something About Mary (pictured) star said: ‘Actors are infantilized, you know? We’re put in a position where everything’s taken care of for us’
The Charlie’s Angels star recalled: ‘You were just on me all the time. You were like: “You have to. You don’t understand. If you don’t do this you will be so sad that you didn’t do it.”‘ And so I credit you so much with the fact that you never let up on me.’
Cameron said with a laugh: ‘You were so, you know, I would say, encouraging and also…’ prompting Gwyneth to finish: ‘…a pain in the a**.’
Gwyneth said: ‘I think I could see, and I knew what a natural mother you are. Some women aren’t but you, I was like: “You’re born to do it.”‘