No, Cameron Diaz Does Not Regret Retiring From Acting Early: ‘I Feel Whole’

Perhaps you noticed a few years ago that Cameron Diaz hadn’t been in a movie in a while. Indeed, the last time the beloved actress appeared on the big screen was almost seven years ago, in the 2014 redo of Annie, where she played evil Miss Hannigan. It was after that that she quietly retired from acting. So far it hasn’t been a Jay Z- or Steven Soderbergh-style retirement either. And it sounds like it never will be.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Diaz was one of the first guests on Hart to Heart, Kevin Hart’s new chat show on Peacock. It’s one of the only times she’s appeared on any screen in the last seven years, along with a Zoom visit on her old friend Drew Barrymore’s daytime talk show. And it sounds like she has no regrets about a life where she just does whatever — including writing and doing speaking engagements about health, and releasing her own line of wine, called Avaline.

“When you do something at a really high level for a long period of time… you’re the person who’s the talent… all parts of you that isn’t that has to sort of be handed off to other people,” Diaz told Hart.

She went on to describe how working in Hollywood made her feel like a “machine.” When she hit 40, she realized how much of her life she “wasn’t touching” and “wasn’t managing.”

“For me, I just really wanted to make my life manageable by me,” she said. “My routine in a day is literally what I can manage to do by myself. It’s the best feeling.” But now that she’s given up a life where she always felt like she was “going going going”, she’s doing much better. “I feel whole.”

So, much as one may miss the Diaz of There’s Something About Mary and Being John Malkovich, good for her!