Cameron Diaz on why she left Hollywood to start a family: 'I didn’t have the space to make the right decisions'

Cameron Diaz quit acting in order to be able to self-manage her life.

The There’s Something About Mary star, who, in 2019, welcomed her first daughter Raddix with husband Benji Madden, spoke to Kevin Hart on his Peacock series Hart to Heart about what it was like working full-time on the big screen — and why she found it necessary to step away.

"When you do something at a really high level for a long period of time, when you're the person that's sort of delivering on this one thing, everything around you, all parts of you that isn't that, has to sort of be handed off to other people,” Diaz explained. “Just, the management of me as a human being … Cameron Diaz is a machine. But for my personal, spiritual self, I was realizing that one part of me that functioned at a high level wasn’t enough.”

Diaz, whose last film role was in the 2014 remake of Annie, shared that while she had some amazing people in her life, she really wanted to make her life "manageable" on her own.

“My routine in a day is literally what I can manage to do by myself. It’s amazing. I feel full. I met my husband, we started a family,” she continued. “All those things that I didn’t have the time for before, and not just didn’t have the time for, but didn’t have the space to make the right decisions for me at the time.”

Diaz, who began dating the Good Charlotte artist in 2014, told Entertainment Tonight in May 2020 that she’s very content with her new, family-focused life.

"I love being a mother. It's the best, best, best part of my life," The Longevity Book author said. "I'm so grateful and so happy and it's the best thing ever and I'm so lucky to do it with Benj and we're having the best time. I'm thrilled. I can't believe it."

In October of last year, Diaz appeared on Naomi Campbell’s YouTube series No Filter to share why she’s thrilled she made the choice to become a parent.

“Even with all the amazing experiences I’ve had in traveling, accomplishments of working hard, putting things into the world that I’m proud of...I know this is the most gratifying moment in life to be in this place,” she explained at the time. “When you’re my age and when you decide to [have a baby] it’s a real choice, something that you really have to work hard for it.”

Now, it seems Diaz is taking on only what works for her, and making the decisions that will shape the life she wants.