At 50, actress Cameron Diaz has built a strong, memorable career for herself, inhabiting countless memorable titles from The Mask to Charlie’s Angels and many more. These days, however, she is proudly retired and, Diaz revealed in a conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow, not about to return to Hollywood any time soon, instead finding greater fulfillment away from Tinsel Town.
Diaz and Paltrow spoke on the latter’s web series, In Goop Health: The Sessions. The title is a reference to Paltrow’s wellness and lifestyle brand, often stylized as goop. Paltrow, also , has remained relatively active in the limelight, yet her and Diaz’s careers have followed a similar trajectory, with Paltrow promoting her lifestyle brand and Diaz focusing on her clean wine brand. How does this new path compare, according to Diaz?
Cameron Diaz discusses brand business over showbiz with Gwyneth Paltrow
In 2009, Diaz received a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, a crowning jewel in a career already gilded by four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a British Academy Film Award, to name just some of her accolades. Through Charlie’s Angels, she’s also been a part of two MTV Award wins. Stardom was hers and the success of her acting career secured. However, she does not focus solely on that and is glad for the separation she put between herself and Hollywood.
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“I just decided that I wanted different things out of my life,” said Diaz. “I had gone so hard for so long, working, making films and it’s such a grind. I didn’t really make any space for my personal life.”
Paltrow went on to ask Diaz how it felt to “walk away from a movie career of that magnitude, that much success.” To this, Diaz said she felt “A peace. I got a peace in my soul. Because I finally was taking care of myself. … I just feel grounded and light.”
The other side of the spotlight
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For Diaz, who has been in the limelight since 1994, her remarkable success and fame meant very little in the way of privacy. “It’s so intense to work at that level and be that public and put yourself out there,” she added. “There’s a lot of energy coming at you at all times when you’re really visible as an actor and doing press and putting yourself out there.”
Diaz was just 21 when she auditioned for the role of Tina Carlyle in The Mask opposite Jim Carrey, who has also recently embraced the siren’s call of retirement. In a twist, Diaz had actually, at that point, never received formal acting training, so she attended classes after being cast. When The Mask went on to become one of the top ten highest-grossing films of the year, Diaz was officially labeled a sex symbol and film work became a frequent part of her life that had previously involved no acting whatsoever.
Then movies became a bit too much a part of her life – to the point that they became her life and her life became someone else’s. “When you’re making a movie, it’s the perfect excuse. They own you,” Diaz told Paltrow in their discussion. “You’re there 12 hours a day for months on end. You have no time for anything else. And I realized I handed off parts of my life to all these other people, and they took it. And I had to basically take it back and take responsibility for my life.”
What is your favorite Cameron Diaz movie?
