<p id=”par-1_58″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/actors/”>Actor</a> Cameron Diaz <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/cameron-diaz-feels-much-better-retiring-acting.html/”>felt a lot better</a> after retiring from the film industry in 2014. But it wasn’t the only time Diaz took a long break from Hollywood. She initially stopped working for a bit during the 2000s. Her work might’ve given her financial security, but she realized she lacked some of the most basic necessities in life.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-cameron-diaz-once-shared-what-she-missed-out-on-while-acting”>Cameron Diaz once shared what she missed out on while acting</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Hiatus-cameron-diaz.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Cameron Diaz posing at a photocall for ‘Sex Tape’.” class=”wp-image-3770430″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Cameron Diaz | Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_32″>Diaz has been very candid about why she walked away from the film industry in 2014. And from the sounds of it, it seems like her 10-year hiatus was well worth it.</p>
<p id=”par-3_61″>“It felt like something I had 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,” Diaz said in an interview with <a href=”https://fortune.com/videos/watch/most-powerful-women-summit-2024%3A-the-multi-hyphenates/f5c71ff3-d545-4658-86fb-ba6c4ef6b7b5″>Fortune</a>.</p>
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<iframe title=”Cameron Diaz Dishes On What She’s Been Up To Since She Quit Acting” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/YFjuSYlWJvQ?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-4_58″>Ironically, she confided that she took a break from acting in her younger years for a very similar reason. In a 2006 interview with <a href=”https://collider.com/cameron-diaz-interviewed-the-holiday/”>Collider</a>, Diaz touched on her much briefer hiatus after <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-charlies-angels-made-cameron-diaz-healthier.html/”>starring in <em>Charlie’s Angel</em></a>. Her blockbuster career afforded Diaz many luxuries, but also made her miss out on the things that truly mattered to her.</p>
<p id=”par-5_121″>“I got to a point that I was sort of like I don’t have a house, I don’t have any place to put my bags, I haven’t been home, I haven’t seen my family, I have no friends you know what I mean. And there was a part of my life that was really going strong but I didn’t have this other aspect of my life so much like Amanda but not in the love aspect of it but in life you just have to have a balance and so I just kind of took a little slow down for a little while which it’s been nice. I probably should pick it back up but I really like it,” she said.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-cameron-diaz-s-strategy-to-leave-acting-behind-backfired”>Cameron Diaz’s strategy to leave acting behind backfired</h2>
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<iframe title=”Hart to Heart | Why Did Cameron Diaz Leave Acting?” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/wHTP-oUBNXY?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Cameron Diaz Says She Helped Drew Barrymore Through Alcohol Addiction: ‘We All Stuck With Her’ </a>
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<p id=”par-6_39″>Similarly to how Diaz felt about her acting retirement in 2014, she believed her initial break in the 2000s was sorely needed. So much so that she had no regrets about her hiatus after she returned to the spotlight.</p>
<p id=”par-7_68″>“I’ve always felt that the movies that I’ve made were the movies I was meant to make and the movies that other people make are the movies they are meant to make and if I see something that I admire, I admire it for what that person has done, but I don’t get jealous or I don’t get envious. I don’t believe in envy, at all,” she said.</p>
<p id=”par-8_53″>But she admitted that there was another reason she avoided movies for a while. Diaz didn’t enjoy the attention and paparazzi that came with being a film star. She figured if she fled Hollywood temporarily, the focus on her would fade. But Diaz was disappointed to discover her strategy didn’t work at all.</p>
<p id=”par-9_99″>“That’s one of the reasons why I went away,” she said. “I thought that if I didn’t do as many films then they would have to leave me alone because my mentality about this business is that this is my job. I’m talking to y’all because this is my job and this is an exchange that all of us have, you know, we have an understanding about and consented, you know. And I felt like, you know, if I just don’t make movies then they wouldn’t have any right to my life. And of course, that’s not the mentality of the media’s.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_34″>Diaz realized that the media was going to hone in on her whether she made movies or not. With that in mind, she felt she was better off returning to the film industry, anyway.</p>
<p id=”par-11_12″>“So I don’t have any plans not to make movies,” she said.</p>
<p id=”par-12_36″>Even after her most recent hiatus back in 2014, Diaz couldn’t stay away from acting for good. <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/jamie-foxx-revealed-he-brought-cameron-diaz-retirement.html/”>Jamie Foxx convinced her to return</a> to the big screen for the Netflix feature appropriately titled <em>Back In Action</em>.</p>