Originally appeared on E! Online
Cameron Diaz is finally ready to embrace life as a working mom.
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After taking a decade off from acting to get married and raise her and husband Benji Madden’s family — which includes 5-year-old daughter Raddix and son Cardinal, 10 months — the 52-year-old revealed why she was more than happy to put her career on the back burner before recently returning to Hollywood to star in her new Netflix action film “Back in Action.”
“You’re a different person after you have children, after marriage, after building a life,” Diaz exclusively told E! News’ Will Marfuggi in a joint interview with costar Jamie Foxx. “Everything changes, your whole perspective, your whole world, your understanding of it. For me, I never made a movie before with a family. So, all of the boxes change that need to be checked off. That’s the most important, and then everything else has to line up to support that.”
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But after putting her priorities in a new order, the “My Best Friend’s Wedding” alum admitted that, while stepping back onto a movie set was a little jarring at first, it came with a whole new outlook in terms of storytelling.
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“As an actor, it’s completely different having taken 10 years and lived a life that I wasn’t living when I was an actor,” she added. “There’s a lot more happening in my world that allows me a different perspective on life, period.”
And after spending half a decade blissfully at home with their kids, it took a lot of enticing from Foxx before Diaz agreed to join “Back in Action.”
“I hadn’t considered anything other than this,” she admitted. “Benji and I talked about ‘maybe it would be cool to do something with the family,’ like switch it up a little bit. The only reason I would even consider it is because I know what I’m getting into with Jamie as a partner: His talent, his professionalism.”
Plus, she is even honored she’s still getting offers.
“To be able to have the privilege to come back after 10 years and even have this as an option to me,” “The Holiday” star continued, “to be able to make a movie at this level and to entertain people again, I always have seen it as a privilege. I feel really lucky to do it. So, it was really fun to be able to say yes to it.”
As for Foxx’s attempts at luring his costar to the project, he said he and the filmmakers felt “so fortunate” they were able to coax Diaz — with whom he’s previously collaborated twice — out of retirement.
“We wanted to be very gracious,” he told E!. “I told her, ‘I don’t want your feet to touch the ground. I want this to be the easiest thing and I don’t want to mess it up either.’ So it definitely made us roll our sleeves up and make sure that this beautiful premise set up and — written by Seth Gordon — was executed in a way to what you have now. We couldn’t have hoped for anything better.”
Watch E! News tonight, Jan. 20, for more exclusive scoop from Diaz and Foxx. Back in Action is streaming now only on Netflix.
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