'Best 10 Years of My Life:' Cameron Diaz On her Retirement from Hollywood and Acting

After a decade away from the big screen, Cameron Diaz, 52, is making her Hollywood comeback in Netflix’s Back in Action, reuniting with Jamie Foxx, 57.

The film marks her first role since playing Miss Hannigan in the 2014 remake of Annie.

Speaking on BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show, Diaz opened up about her decision to step back from acting, calling her retirement "the best 10 years of my life."

She described the time off as freeing, allowing her to focus on being a wife and mother while living life more privately.

"It was so lovely," she shared, adding that returning to acting "made sense for my family" as they wanted to "switch it up a little bit."

The Hollywood star, who made her acting debut in the 1994 comedy The Mask, admitted that she turned down multiple roles before people eventually stopped asking. However, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with Foxx again.

"If I'm going to leave my family for 10 hours a day - I want to do it with… the most talented man in entertainment," Diaz said about her longtime co-star.

While her return is exciting for fans, Diaz remains unsure if this marks a permanent comeback. She told Norton, "this is maybe the beginning... I don't know."

Reflecting on her love for acting, she explained, "If I just let this go away, all of this goodwill that I got to build over so much time, the passion I have for entertaining people and making movies that people smile and laugh [at] and have a good time… if I don't engage that again, and give that a chance and participate in it and be grateful for it, then I would be a fool."

When asked if she enjoyed her time away from the limelight, Diaz enthusiastically responded, "Omg I loved it." She reiterated that she was "free" to focus on her personal life but was also "really grateful" to be back.

Foxx, who previously starred alongside Diaz in Annie and Any Given Sunday, shared how he convinced her to return, saying he "very humbly" asked if she would "grace us with her incredible talent."

Diaz revealed that when she received the script for Back in Action, she and her husband, musician Benji Madden, decided, "maybe it's time to switch it up for the family a little bit because, you know, it's Jamie."

As for what’s next, Diaz is keeping her options open. "Maybe I'll tiptoe in, maybe just go gung-ho, I don't know," she teased.