CAMERON DIAZ EXPLAINED EMOTIONAL REASON BEHIND RETIRING FROM ACTING

After starring alongside Jim Carrey in The Mask in 1994, Cameron Diaz became a star in Hollywood. The 52-year-old actress, who played Tina Carlyle in the hit film, later starred in beloved films like My Best Friend's Wedding, voiced Princess Fiona in the Shrek series and portrayed Natalie Cook in Charlie's Angels and its follow-up, Full Throttle, in the 2000s.

Well, if you go back to 2014, Diaz was having an incredible year. She played Miss Hannigan in the Annie reboot, Carly Whitten in The Other Woman, and Annie Hargrove in Jake Kasdan's Sex Tape. However, Diaz abruptly stopped speaking after leaving the famous Hudson St. Orphanage as its matron. Ten years later, the Californian has opened up about her reasons for abruptly leaving the spotlight and Hollywood.

The admission is made just before Diaz's appropriately named action comedy film, Back in Action, launches her comeback to the big screen. The mother-of-two will portray Emily, a former CIA spy, opposite Jamie Foxx's character. After their secret identities are revealed, Emily and her partner are compelled to return to work. Seth Gordon's film Back in Action, which will premiere on Netflix on January 17, 2026, is scheduled to precede the theatrical release of Shrek 5.

In the direct follow-up to 2010's Shrek Forever After, Diaz will be heard as Princess Fiona once again, accompanied by Eddie Murphy as their gallant horse, Donkey, and Mike Myers as the title Dreamworks character.

To complete the hat trick, Diaz is presently shooting the film Outcome for Apple TV+.

The Holiday alumna Jonah Hill is directing the project, which is billed as a black comedy and features an unidentified role. Keanu Reeves, Laverne Cox, and Bottoms' Kaia Gerber are among the other famous cast members. Given her imminent triumphant return to the industry, why did Diaz retreat from the spotlight in the first place?

Earlier this week, on October 14, Diaz made an appearance at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in California and acknowledged that bowing out was just "something" she had to do. "Reclaiming my own life felt like the right thing to do for me, and I honestly didn't care about anything else."

She went on, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, "And nothing could change my mind about my decision to take care of myself and build the life that I really wanted to have—nor anybody's opinion, nobody's success, nobody's offer, nobody's anything."

The actress went on to say that starting a family had become her "passion," and that her work in the business no longer "fed her soul."

Fortunately, it seems the celebrity has found her spark again, and everyone is now focused on Diaz's impending comeback.