Cameron Diaz was once one of the hottest stars in Hollywood - an A-list actress who was highly
sought after and worked alongside the biggest names in the business.
But then she seemed to disappear, and it turns out she had good reasons for it.
Here are some of the reasons why Cameron Diaz decided to leave the spotlight for good.
It's no wonder Diaz was ready for a break - at just 16 years old, she signed a contract
with Elite Model Management, which has also handled the careers of runway superstars like
Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, and Cindy Crawford.
The deal helped Diaz land jobs for ads with top brands while also giving her the opportunity
to travel the world.
Just a year after signing with Elite, Diaz appeared on the cover of the July 1990 issue
of Seventeen magazine and when asked about her style, she told the popular publication,
"I'm definitely into black army boots, which aggravates my father... he'd rather I wear
heels.
Of course, that's easy for him to say.
He doesn't have to walk in them!"
The then-17-year-old also talked about what she saw herself doing in the future, saying,
"I'll probably model until I'm old and gray.
Actually, my ultimate dream is to be a zoologist.
Maybe go on safari in Africa and study lions."
While she didn't mention anything about acting, a career working with animals sounds pretty
awesome as well.
And now that Diaz is retired from movies, perhaps it's time for her to consider zoology
again.
It didn't take long for Diaz to make the leap from modeling to acting, a move that definitely
paid off with both fame and fortune.
In 1994, she scored a gig alongside Jim Carrey in The Mask, playing the sultry girlfriend
of a mobster - and her career took off in a major way over the next few years.
From there, she was cast regularly and worked steadily with some of Hollywood's biggest
names on films like 1997's My Best Friend's Wedding with Julia Roberts, 1998's There's
Something About Mary with Ben Stiller, 2001's Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, and 2002's Gangs
of New York with Leonardo DiCaprio.
But her most beloved roles might just be her characters from 2000's Charlie's Angels and
its sequel, 2003's Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle - as well as her voice-work as Princess
Fiona in the animated Shrek movies which she took on from 2001 until 2010.
If that sounds like a lot, frankly, it's only the tip of the incredibly impressive iceberg.
Over the course of a career that spanned two decades, Diaz appeared in over 40 films.
Plenty of accolades
The fact that Diaz has been in so many movies may make it a little less surprising to find
out that she's earned her fair share of accolades throughout the years, but that doesn't make
her accomplishments any less impressive.
Over the course of her career, Diaz has seen her name on the list for four Golden Globe
Award nominations, one in 1999 for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical thanks
to There's Something About Mary and three for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
which came in 2000, 2002, and 2003 respectively for her roles in Being John Malkovich, Vanilla
Sky, and Gangs of New York.
Other industry nominations include three Screen Actors Guild Award nods.
While she didn't manage to take home those honors, she has earned three MTV Movie + TV
Awards, two Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, and a People's Choice
Award, among many other accolades.
If awards are proof of an accomplished career, then Diaz's trophy case certainly shows how
much she's done thanks to her time on the big screen.
Diaz definitely proved her worth in Hollywood by working her way up to A-list level paychecks.
In fact, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Diaz was, quote, "regarded as the highest-paid
actress among the over-40 set" in 2013.
The publication explained at the time that Diaz pulled in $42 million for her role in
the 2011 comedy Bad Teacher after the film grossed $216.2 million worldwide, a huge surge
from her typical $15 million fee.
Her following contract with Sony for the movie Sex Tape apparently ensured the actress the
same kind of sweet money-making deal.
Thanks to these kinds of lucrative contracts, in 2010, Forbes included Diaz among the richest
celebrities in the business, ranking her Number 60 among the wealthiest 100.
She also reportedly brought in $50 million during a 12-month span back in 2008.
With her fortune estimated to be in the area of $140 million, she's obviously made enough
money to last a lifetime.
So it's easy to understand why, at the very least, money wouldn't be a motivating factor
for her to stay in the public eye.
Taking her life back
After starting her modeling career when she was still just 16 years old and breaking into
the big-time acting business in her early 20s with immediate success in both endeavors,
Diaz had spent nearly half of her teen years and her entire adult life in the public eye.
That's why she apparently feels totally fine about stepping back and getting her life in
order after being in the spotlight for so long.
In August 2019, she opened up about her decision to retire from Hollywood in an honest essay
published via InStyle magazine, explaining,
"I started [experiencing fame] when I was 22, so 25 years ago - that's a long time.
The way I look at it is that I've given more than half of my life to the public.
I feel it's OK for me to take time for myself now to reorganize and choose how I want to
come [back] into the world.
If I decide to."
Diaz also stated in her same August 2019 InStyle essay,
"At this point, I've done so much, I feel fulfilled with the adventures I've sought
out in my life."
When you think about how much she's done and how much she's earned, while also realizing
how long she's spent in the business, it's easy to understand why the star is so satisfied.
Her accomplished career is also likely why, when she chose three words to describe herself
back in 2008, she opted for:
"Hardworking, younger, [and] "transformed."
But today, she revealed, she would go with:
"Focused, content, [and] blessed."
She also shared that she's, quote, "in a great place" these days, which is something Selma
Blair seemed to back up at the Oscars' Vanity Fair pre-party in 2018.
According to Complex, Blair said,
"I mean, she doesn't need to make any more films.
She has a pretty great life, I don't know what it would take to bring her back.
She's happy."
In her essay for InStyle, Diaz discussed her thoughts on the modern state of constant online
culture.
She explained her perspective by admitting that she's in awe, while also being wary of
the fact that everyone is so attached to their phones.
Referring to the seemingly ever-present devices, she continued,
"We've exported our entire brain capacity into this little thing we carry around in
our hand.
We've lost touch with our humanity and our humanness, and I think it's really healthy
to not have to be accountable for every minute of our day."
Beyond being healthy, she also enjoys the privacy that not being overly active on social
media allows her, writing,
"It's fun to just not have anybody know what I'm up to.
Because my time is all mine.
I'm not selling any films, and because I'm not selling anything, I don't have to give
anybody anything.
I'm not doing this anymore.
I'm living my life."
Diaz declared that her 40s are her "best decade" in her InStyle essay, explaining,
"You just get to be real with yourself, and you can also make necessary changes because
you have the experience of looking back on four decades.
Looking at patterns and seeing what things really work.
You get to let go of giving a s--- about anything.
You're done!
Don't care.
I really don't.
It's such a relief."
She went on to discuss what it's like to face the physical changes that aging brings, as
well as the lack of control people have over those changes.
Admitting that she looks back at pictures of herself only to realize how young she really
was at the time, she added,
"Oh, wait, I have, hopefully, another 40 years of looking back at pictures not knowing how
young I was.
I know right now I'm the youngest I'll ever be.
I'm a 47-year-old woman who's like, 'Hell, yeah!'
I'm fine with it.
I'm grateful for every moment I have."
She also talked to Oprah about getting older in 2014, saying that she gets, quote, "so
mad when [she] hears commercials on TV where [they use the term] 'anti-aging.'"
"We don't honor the journey and who we are and how much we have to offer."
She went on to say that people are made to feel like they've "failed" if they don't look
like they're in their twenties their entire lives.
“Oh, I'm sorry, I apologize, I wasn't able to defy nature."
When it comes to important investments, Diaz apparently thinks that the people in her life
are worth their weight in gold.
She wrote about her relationships in her InStyle essay, revealing,
"I just want to build better, stronger friendships with the people who are in it with me."
Those relationships include her famous friends such as her Charlie's Angels costar Drew Barrymore
and actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
When Barrymore chatted about her friendship with Diaz while sitting down with Katie Couric,
she shared that they met as teenagers - and that Diaz was always kind.
“Someone who looks like that, they could have an attitude, and she was the opposite.
She was friendly and goofy and really nice."
Back in 2015, Diaz said "I do" when she married Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden.
Four years into her marriage, she talked to InStyle about her relationship with her husband,
calling him the "best."
Despite obviously adoring her hubby, she was willing to admit that marriage can be difficult
- and a whole lot of work.
She then confessed,
"I don't know if I was ready [when I got married], but I knew Benji was special.
He's just a good man.
There's no bulls---.
It's really refreshing.
I'm really grateful for him."
She also talked about Madden to Marie Claire in 2016, saying,
"No one compares.
Everything else just like washes and slips away.
You realize like, 'Oh this is like the real thing is.
This is what real love is.
This is what real commitment and devotion is.
This is the person you build your life with."
It's no wonder Diaz wants to focus on her marriage these days.
Fans may miss Cameron Diaz, but she apparently doesn't miss her life on the big screen.
Frankly, she has a new interest to explore.
As she told InStyle,
"I don't miss performing.
Right now I'm looking at the landscape of wellness and all that.
But whatever I do, it has to be something I'm passionate about - something that just
feels effortless."
That's apparently why she's now written two health books, 2013's New York Times bestselling
The Body Book: Feed, Move, Understand and Love Your Amazing Body and 2016's The Longevity
Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time.
In fact, she may have already introduced her own lifestyle brand, thanks to the website
for her first book, which now includes a range of posts on how to live a Diaz-like lifestyle.
In the welcome message, she wrote,
"This site was launched with the same intentions that drove me to write The Body Book: to merge
information with action, so that we will all know how to take care of this machine that
we call our bodies.[...]
And that's what it's all about, right?
Loving and living and laughing... with lots of breakfasts and lunches and think-fests
and sweat-fests and stretch-fests in between."
A+ advice from a beloved former A-list star.
"She has good instincts."
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