Cameron Diaz has jumped to the defence of Jamie Foxx following claims her co-star was difficult to work with.
In June 2022, the Charlie’s Angels and There’s Something About Mary star came out of acting retirement after eight years to star in a new comedy alongside Foxx.
After filming the Netflix project, titled Back in Action, reports claimed that Django Unchained actor Foxx, 56, had made Diaz, 51, regret her decision to star in the film after making life a “nightmare” on set. These claims arrived before Foxx was hospitalised with a mystery illness, prompting concern from his friends in Hollywood.
However, Diaz hit out at the original reports during a new podcast interview, saying the rumours were untrue and made her “want to scream”.
“I really hate all of the things that were being said about our set at the time,” Diaz told Lipstick on the Rim, adding: “You just want to scream at the top of your lungs, like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Diaz went on to praise Foxx, calling him “the cheerleader for the entire crew” and “professional on every level”.
She continued: “Jamie is the best. I love that guy so much. He’s such a special person and he’s so talented, so much fun.
The actor said the film did, in fact, suffer production delays, but said “the hiccups that happened throughout production are the natural kinds of things that happen”.
Addressing the production shutdown that was caused by Foxx’s medical emergency, which saw the actor hospitalised for months, Diaz added: “Nothing got delayed other than, obviously, toward the end. And that’s something that is not my place to speak about.”
Back in Action is Diaz’s first film since the 2014 remake of musical Annie , which she starred in alongside Foxx. They previously starred together in 1999 film Any Given Sunday.
Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx previously worked together on ‘Annie’ in 2014— (Getty Images)
In 2021, Diaz opened up about her temporary retirement from acting, saying she found her film career prevented her from managing other parts of her life.
Speaking to actor and comedian Kevin Hart on his new talk show, Hart to Heart, she said: “When you do something at a really high level for a long period of time, when you’re the person that is delivering one thing, you’re the person on the screen, all parts of you that isn’t that has to sort of be handed off to other people.”
Diaz, who is married to Good Charlotte star Benji Madden, with whom she welcomed daughter Raddix in December 2019, said she reached this conclusion when she was around 40.
