Why Cameron Diaz Disappeared From Hollywood

Plus, the actress tells Gwyneth Paltrow why she didn't get married until age 41

By Zach Johnson Jun 12, 2017 1:45 PMTags

Where has Cameron Diaz been?

The actress last appeared in the 2014 musical Annie, co-starring Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis. While she's one of the most popular (and highest-paid) movie stars in Hollywood, Cameron said two decades of non-stop travel from film set to film set was too much. "I just went, 'I can't really say who I am to myself.' Which is a hard thing to face up to," she said at the Goop Wellness Summit Saturday. "I felt the need to make myself whole."

So far, the actress has not announced any new projects for 2017.

Cameron appeared on a panel alongside Tory Burch, Miranda Kerr and Nicole Richie; Gwyneth Paltrow served as the moderator. Towards the end of the discussion (held in Culver City, Calif.), the Goop founder asked her famous friends about their relationships. "Cameron, you got married later," she said. "What was it that kept you from getting married until you were 40?"

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Cameron Diaz's Best Roles
Marc Patrick/BFA.com
Marc Patrick/BFA.com

"Forty-one," Cameron politely corrected her friend, flashing her megawatt smile. "I think it's a matter of I just hadn't met my husband [Good Charlotte's guitarist and singer Benji Madden], you know? I had boyfriends before. And there's a really, really distinct difference between husbands and boyfriends. And I have a husband who is just my partner in life and in everything. Talk about two very different people! We are so different from one another, but we share the same values—we're totally two peas in a pod. We are both just weird enough for each other."

"We women are objectified so much," she said. "Somehow my husband has just been able to kind of show me what it's like not to have that be a part of a relationship, and being an equal."

Nicole is Cameron's sister in-law, as she married Joel Madden seven years ago. The fashion designer called the Maddens "a very close family," telling the panelists, "They rely on each other. When we got together it was like, you're just in the family. It's a large support system."

Cameron added that her husband of two years supports her in ways she never imagined possible. "I never experienced that before. I'd never been loved in that way," said the Other Woman actress, whose famous exes include Jared Leto, Alex Rodriguez and Justin Timberlake, to name a few. "I look at him every day and he inspires me—he works so hard. I feel so lucky."