RETURN OF AN ANGEL

Ending her 10-year retirement, the lovely Cameron Diaz is back among us mortals – and lighting up the screen once more

- SALLY JAMES

She stepped away a decade ago to focus on family, calling her hiatus “the best 10 years of my life.” Now, at 52, Cameron Diaz is back and better than ever! The Charlie’s Angels star made a radiant return to the red carpet as her Netflix action-comedy, Back in Action (the title is just a coincidence, she insists), hit screens.

“It’s like riding a bike,” she says of getting back on-set with her old friend and three-time co-star Jamie Foxx, 57. Still, it took some convincing to get her back on that bike. Having taken an extended breather from the “grind” of filmmaking, Cameron was relishing life at home with husband Benji Madden, 45, and their two children, daughter Raddix, 5, and 10-month-old son Cardinal (both of whom they welcomed via surrogate). “It felt like the right thing for me to reclaim my own life,” the actress said last fall, speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women summit.

On Jan. 5, she and Benji celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary - a milestone that moved the Good Charlotte guitarist to share his feelings in a rare personal post. “My queen... Wife, Mommy, friend, partner, boss and lover,” he wrote. “Every year only gets more fulfilling. It’s special... Every day getting to have my best friend with me ride or die... what a beautiful life - I am grateful!!!”

And although Jamie - whom Cameron describes as the “most talented man in the entertainment business” - played a big part in orchestrating her movie come-back (as did a reported seven-figure offer from Netflix), she credits Benji with giving her that extra push.