Cameron Diaz says 'everybody loves' Jamie Foxx, amid set rumors

Cameron Diaz clears the air about on-set rumors around co-star Jamie Foxx

Two photos: Cameron Diaz wears a gray jacket, and Jamie Foxx wears a black-and-gray suit.

Dec. 19, 2023 5:46 PM PT

Cameron Diaz wants everyone to know that her frequent co-star Jamie Foxx is actually a pleasure to work with.

The “Shrek” actor’s reassurance came after several rumors spread online that Foxx “had a major meltdown” and that he was “pretty unpopular” on the set of the upcoming Netflix film “Back in Action,” per the Sun.

“Jamie is the best, I love that guy so much,” Diaz told model and actor Molly Sims on Tuesday’s episode of the “Lipstick on the Rim” podcast. “He’s such a special person, and he’s so talented, so much fun. I really hate all the things that were being said about our set, which at the time, you want to scream at the top of your lungs like, ‘What are you talking about!’”

She went on to call the Oscar winner the “cheerleader of the entire crew” of the movie and said “everybody loves him.”

Though she admitted there were some bumps in the film’s production, the “My Best Friend’s Wedding” star insisted that every one of the obstacles was part of the “natural kinds of things that happen” on a set.

Foxx is “thriving,” Diaz said, adding that she gets angry “when I see and hear people trying to take another person down like that.”

She shared that Foxx refused to speak publicly about the rumors .

“We’re so heads down while trying to making the movie, so we’re trying to not let [the rumors] in, but after a while I’m like ‘Jamie, let’s say something.’ And he’s like ‘No, no, no, it’s fine.’”

The movie, fittingly named “Back in Action,” will mark Diaz’s first film appearance since she retired from acting in 2014. She also revealed in Tuesday’s podcast that the only reason she agreed to work on a movie was “because it was with Jamie.”

Diaz’s last film before taking her hiatus was 2014’s “Annie,” in which she appeared alongside Foxx. The two also worked together in the 1999 Al Pacino-led football movie “Any Given Sunday.”

In a 2020 conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow for Vanity Fair, Diaz explained to her fellow actor why she chose to step away from Hollywood, citing long hours on set and personal relationships she “had to repair.”

“It’s so intense to work at that level and be that public and put yourself out there,” Diaz said.

“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’m sensitive to some energies and not others, but I do get the overwhelming energy of the attention being put toward me. I stopped, I really looked at my life, and I saw what I had been [missing].”

Filming for “Back in Action” was ultimately delayed when Foxx was hospitalized after an unspecified medical emergency in April.

The 55-year-old’s daughter Corinne Foxx announced her father’s hospitalization in April in a since-deleted family statement on Instagram. “Luckily, due to quick action and great care, he is already on his way to recovery,” the statement said.

Foxx made his first Hollywood appearance since the medical incident earlier this month while receiving an award at the Critics Choice Celebration of Cinema & Television, which honors contributions by those in the Black, Latino and AAPI communities. He returned to the public eye with a mix of emotion and humor about his mystery ailment, as well as gratitude for the Black Hollywood community.

“Thank you so much for holding me down all the time,” he said. “It’s harder to impress Black folks. ... Every time you get an award, [there’s] always somebody saying, ‘Man, my cousin do the same thing.’”

Cameron Diaz clears the air about on-set rumors around co-star Jamie Foxx

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