Cameron Diaz Opens Up to Gwyneth Paltrow on How She Found ‘Peace’ After Leaving Acting

Cameron Diaz knew that when she got into her 40s, she wanted to start over. Back in May of 2018, Cameron casually shared that she was “actually retired,” while in conversation with her Sweetest Thing cast-mates, Christina Applegate and Selma Blair.

Diaz’s decision to retire at what was seemingly the height of her career was met with skepticism at the time. Since then, she’s teased that she’s not entirely ruling out a return to acting. “Look, I’m never going to say never. I’m not a person who says never about anything, clearly,” she said back in April. However, the actress never really opened up in depth about why she left acting.

That is, until Gwyneth Paltrow got Diaz, “one of [her] best friends in the entire universe,” to talk more about it on a recent video for In Goop Health: The Sessions. The 47 year old actress spoke to her good friend and Goop founder this Wednesday, about redirecting the course of their lives away from the glare of Hollywood.

“Peace in my soul because I was finally taking care of myself”

“What did it feel like to walk away from a movie career of that magnitude?” Paltrow, also 47, asked Diaz. The Charlie’s Angels actress smiled and said, “Like peace. A peace in my soul because I was finally taking care of myself.”

Moreover, the Bad Teacher star confessed that her life in the spotlight was draining, something that Gwyneth said she could “understand.”

“I feel grounded and light. It’s a strange thing to say, I know a lot of people won’t understand it, I know you understand it, but it was so intense to work at that level and be that public and put yourself out there,” Diaz continued. “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.”

“I realized I had handed off all these parts of my life to all these other people and they took it”

The actress described herself as being “sensitive to some energies” that would overwhelm her from time to time when she was more active in the industry.

” I really looked at my life and I saw what I had been doing. When you’re making a movie, they own you. You’re there for 12 hours a day for months on end you have no time for anything else. I realized I had handed off all these parts of my life to all these other people and they took it,” she notes. “I basically had to take it back and take responsibility for my own life. That’s my job. There’s a lot of things that I had to iron out and a lot of relationships I had to repair. A lot of relationships I had to build that I was absent in.”

“Here I am in my 40s, completely starting over”

Diaz confessed that upon turning 40, she was struck with the realisation that she wanted, “different things out of my life.”

“I think you just build a life when you’re in your 20s and 30s. Into your 40s, as you know, it’s completely different,” Diaz expresses. “But here I am in my 40s, I’m completely starting over after I had a whole life that I did something at a high level. I had been going so hard for so long, working, making films, such a grind. I didn’t make any space for my personal life,” Diaz admitted.

On finding Love and Much More

However, all that changed when she met her husband, Benji Madden. Diaz married the Good Charlotte band member in 2015 after a 10-month romance. Earlier this year in January they also welcomed their firstborn daughter, Raddix Madden.

“We got married pretty much immediately because we realized we just had to do it,” Diaz told Paltrow. “We went hard for a few years where we just ironed [our relationship] out, hacked it out. It was a lot of work, but we had to.” She added, “I’m older than him, not a lot older, but he was at the place in his life where he also wanted to do that as well.”

“I would not have become a mother if it wasn’t for you”

The Mask star also talked about being an older mother and how Paltrow inspired her to be a mom.

“I don’t think I could have been this parent at 25.” Diaz confessed, I would not have become a mother if it wasn’t for you. And I credit you so much with the fact that you never let up on me. I would say, encouraging.” Paltrow quipped saying, “And a pain in the a**,” referring to how she would urge Diaz to get married and start a family. “I knew what a natural mother you are. You were born to do it.”

And it seems like Paltrow wasn’t wrong. Cameron just can’t seem to stop gushing over her 7-month-old daughter. She recently told Jimmy Fallon that she’s overjoyed to live in a “little bubble” with her baby amid the pandemic. “Before my baby was an excuse to stay home,” she said. “Now I don’t have to make that excuse. It’s just what it is, and I get to be with her.”

Cameron’s dating history

Cameron confessed that she wasn’t interested earlier in getting married or having children because she was scared and afraid. “I was afraid I wouldn’t find a partner. I had no luck, you know, I didn’t have people like that in my life prior to that.’

‘Yeah, you had some real humdingers in there,’ said Gwyneth knowingly as she and Cameron shared a huge laugh. Cameron’s dating history has reportedly included Justin Timberlake, Diddy, Alex Rodriguez, Jared Leto and Matt Dillon.

“It is a funny journey that got me here. But what I realized is that where I am now, I’ve just become comfortable with not knowing what is going to happen,” Diaz explains. “I have total faith that things are going to work out.”