Eva Mendes, Demi Moore, Cameron Diaz took ‘big gamble’ ditching Hollywood to focus on family: expert

The entertainment industry has lost some high-profile actresses over the years to another career: motherhood.

Stars like Eva Mendes, Cameron Diaz and Demi Moore have all been open about their decisions to take a step back from Hollywood and focus on family. 

“When actresses like Eva Mendes or Cameron Diaz make the public choice to step back, it’s often about personal fulfillment, managing their image, and shifting priorities,” CEO of SCALEBLAZER Laura Burkemper, told Fox News Digital. “While it can put their career on pause, it doesn’t necessarily damage it, especially when they have achieved career success and have the financial resources to return on their own terms.”

 EVA MENDES MAY NEVER RETURN TO ACTING, THANKS TO RYAN GOSLING

“The public announcement can help control the narrative and keep them in a positive light, even enhancing their image as individuals who value a more holistic picture of life — career, family, health — and whatever success means to them personally,” Burkemper said.

Here’s a look at the A-list stars who ditched the glitz and the glamour to embrace the peaks and valleys of parenthood.

Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes has two daughters with Ryan Gosling; daughters, Esmerelda, 10, and Amada, 8. (Tim Hunter / Newspix/Aliah Anderson/Getty Images)

For ten years, you haven’t seen the dynamic Eva Mendes on a television or a movie screen. If you have children, you might have heard her utter a single line in a 2021 episode of the kids’ show “Bluey.”

In 2014, Mendes consciously decided to prioritize motherhood, raising her two daughters, Esmerelda, 10, and Amada, 8, whom she shares with longtime love Ryan Gosling. 

Appearing on Good Morning America earlier this month to promote her book, “Desi, Mami, and The Never-Ending Worries,” Mendes opened up about whether she’ll ever return to the limelight.

“I don’t know. If there’s interesting roles . . . I kind of felt like I did it, you know? I was like, ‘I just worked with Ryan Gosling. He’s, like, the best,'” she said, referencing her 2012 flick, “The Place Beyond the Pines.”

Eva Mendes reads her new children’s book “Desi, Mami, And The Never-Ending Worries” to children. (Gotham/Getty Images for ABA)

“While it can put their career on pause, it doesn’t necessarily damage it, especially when they have achieved career success and have the financial resources to return on their own terms.”

— Laura Burkemper, CEO of SCALEBLAZER

“It was such a high [in] my career to work with him and what we created together, that I was like, ‘This is a good time to like ’Seinfeld’ it and just walk out.’ So, who knows?”

Her recent sentiments reflected earlier ones she had given in March on “Today.”  

“It was like a no-brainer,” she said of the transition from working actress to full-time mom. “I’m so lucky.”

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling attend “The Place Beyond The Pines” premiere in 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Mendes says after working with Gosling, she felt like she had accomplished it all. (Sonia Recchia/Getty Images)

Mendes also attributed a lack of opportunity as a reason to leave the industry. “I got tired fighting for the good roles,” she told Variety in 2022. “There just was a point where I thought, ‘I’m going to create my own opportunities and become a producer on things and create my own material,’ but it just didn’t feel worth it to me.”

She then started her family.

“I thought, ‘Oh, this is what I’m supposed to do right now.’”

Eva Mendes says when she left the industry 10 years ago, there weren’t many roles for Latina actresses. (Alexander Tamargo/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

“There are more opportunities for Latina actresses now, but when I bowed out 10 years ago I wasn’t being offered things that weren’t specifically Latina,” she continued. “It is exciting that things are different now, so who knows what I will do in the future. But right now, I’m keeping it in the home with my kids.”

Demi Moore

Demi Moore is currently experiencing a resurgence in her career. (Earl Gibson III/Penske Media via Getty Images)

A member of the Brat Pack and in feature films like “St. Elmo’s Fire” and “About Last Night…,” Demi Moore made a name for herself in the ’80s.

Moore, who is being lauded with praise for her latest performance in “The Substance,” spoke of her tenured career and time in the business, in a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly. “It’s not like I ever officially left, but I understand the sentiment and appreciate it, because there hasn’t been a project or a role that has come along that has been this dynamic for me to really dive into and sink my teeth into.” 

After three films in 1997, “G.I. Jane,” “Deconstructing Harry” and “Destination Everywhere,” there was a lapse in work on her resume. Moore was a mother of three daughters in 1997, all of whom she shared with husband Bruce Willis. The two announced their separation in June 1998.

Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, along with their daughters Rumer, Tallulah and Scout, appear at a movie premiere in 2001. The couple were already divorced at this time. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

The following month, Moore’s mother died. As a result, she made an effort to spend more time with her three daughters, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah.

“I re-engaged and did ‘Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle’ and a few things,” she said of her first big role after the hiatus. “It’s changed, but at that time, there was a feeling like I didn’t quite know where I fit. I worked, I did some things — some good things I’m proud of, like ‘Margin Call,’” she noted. But Moore said she still found herself “questioning my own ability, my own value, my own place” within Hollywood.

Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz left the industry when she was one of the highest-paid actress’ in Hollywood. (Steve Jennings/Getty Images)

There was a time when Cameron Diaz was the highest-paid actress over 40 in Hollywood.

Starring in hits like “Charlie’s Angels,” and “The Holiday,” Diaz stepped away from the limelight for a solid eight years, choosing to focus on expanding her family.

Diaz has said that when she turned 40, her priorities began to shift. “I have a lot of great friends, and I have a lot of really incredible people who have supported me for so long. . . . I really do believe it’s about the people you have, you know, in your life, that can help you keep things moving. And I had some amazing people, and I had other people who were not serving my best interests always, but you don’t have time to figure those things out if you are just going,” she told Kevin Hart on his podcast in 2021.

She ultimately chose to stop making movies and prioritize her family and other ventures. She married musician Benji Madden in 2015, and the couple welcomed their daughter, Raddix, in 2019 via surrogate. They welcomed a son, Cardinal, this year.

“It’s just a different time in my life now. Now I’m here and this is the most fulfilling thing that I’ve ever done in my life. [To] have a family and be married and have our little nucleus of a family. It’s just completely the best thing,” Diaz previously told Yahoo! Finance, also in 2021. “So I can’t give . . . I don’t have what it takes to give making a movie what it needs to be made. All of my energy is here.”

Cameron Diaz married Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden in 2015.  (Donato Sardella/Getty Images for REVOLVE)

However, in 2022, it was announced that Diaz was shooting a new movie, “Back in Action,” with Jamie Foxx. It’s slated for release this coming January. She’ll also return as the voice of Fiona in “Shrek 5,” which is expected to be out in the summer of 2026.

“When you’re doing something that you know, and you’ve done well, and [you] know how it works, and it’s consumed your whole life for so long, it’s kind of a nice thing to kind of go, ‘You know what? Let me just step back for a second, take a look at what the whole picture looks like for me, and what are the things that I could do better and be more engaged with that would make me feel more whole.’ And I did that,” she said on CBS Sunday Morning in 2022, after it was announced that she would be in the Foxx film.

Jamie Foxx got Cameron Diaz out of retirement to shoot their film, “Back in Action,” out January 2025. (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Publicist and Hollywood insider, Nadja Atwal, cautioned that it’s a “big gamble,” for anyone to dip out of the industry, even for family.

Atwal told Fox News Digital that actresses typically choose to announce their ‘hiatus’ or ‘departure’ so “the public doesn’t forget about them, and their market value as an actress can still hold for a while without having to perform.”

Cameron Diaz says being a mother is the “most fulfilling thing” in her life. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

“It’s a big gamble though, as no one knows the exact time frame that is still within the grace period when it comes to absence from the big screen. We are living in a time where stars are quickly rising, shining and fading or simply suddenly disappearing.”

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow won her first Oscar in 1999. (Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty Images)

The daughter of esteemed director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow had an early start in the industry. By 27, she had won her first Academy Award for her portrayal of Viola de Lesseps in “Shakespeare In Love.” A decade later, she would launch her wellness newsletter Goop, which would materialize into the burgeoning lifestyle brand it is today.

“I think that when you hit the bull’s-eye when you’re 26 years old and you’re a metrics-driven person who, frankly, doesn’t love acting that much as it turns out . . . I sort of felt like, ‘Well, now who am I supposed to be? Like, what am I? What am I driving toward?” she told Bruce Bozzi of her identity as an actress on his podcast in 2020.

But Paltrow also wanted to focus on being a mother. After a string of high-profile relationships, she married Coldplay rocker Chris Martin in 2003. The couple would have two children, a daughter, Apple, and son Moses, before their “conscious uncoupling” in 2016.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have two children together; Apple, 20, and Moses, 18.  (Photo by Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBC)

“I really stepped away from acting when Apple was born,” Paltrow told People in 2023. “The last time I was in every scene of a movie was when I was pregnant with her,” she admitted. “When I had her, it just, everything felt redefined for me, and I thought, ‘I’m not sure that I want to do this so much as a career. I definitely don’t want to . . . I’m not going to go away for months on end.'”

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Phoebe Cates Kline

Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh starred in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” (Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock)

In the ’80s, Phoebe Cates was an in-demand actress. Appearing in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” as Jennifer Jason Leigh’s best friend, Cates was in a litany of movies, including “Date with an Angel” and “Heart of Dixie.”

But things changed in 1989, after Cates married actor Kevin Kline. In 1991, Cates was cast as Steve Martin’s daughter in “Father of the Bride,” but she had to drop out of the role due to her pregnancy. She and her husband welcomed their first child, a son, that year. They had a daughter three years later.

Phoebe Cates and her husband, Kevin Kline, appeared at Radio City Music Hall in 2017 to attend the Tony Awards. (Jim Spellman/WireImage/Getty Images)

Four years after the birth of their second child, Kline told Playboy magazine about the agreement the two actors had reached in terms of parenting and working. “We have agreed to alternate so that we’re never working at the same time,” he said. “[But] whenever it’s been her slot to work, Phoebe has chosen to stay with the children.”

Cates would make one more film in 2001 before completely leaving the business. In 2014, Kline told The Talks, “I married someone who is an actress as well, who said, ‘I’m done. I’m having children. I’m not going to do that anymore. I’m going to be a mom, a wife.’”

Since then, Cates has appeared on the red carpet with her husband. In 2015, she leant her voice for a video game.

“It’s a big gamble though, as no one knows the exact time frame that is still within the grace period when it comes to absence from the big screen. We are living in a time where stars are quickly rising, shining and fading or simply suddenly disappearing.”

— Nadja Atwal on leaving the industry to raise a family

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie took a few years off from making films to focus on her children. (Gisela Schober/Getty Images)

Angelina Jolie is still a household name, but in recent years, her name has been synonymous with her divorce drama with Brad Pitt, instead of her acting chops.

Jolie was last seen on-screen for “The Eternals,” and after three years, is returning with “Maria,” a movie about opera singer Maria Callas.

Recently at the Venice Film Festival, while promoting her highly anticipated film, Jolie revealed that she had taken a pause from acting because of her family. “I needed to be home more with my kids,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. Of returning, Jolie said that her six kids are “a bit older, getting more independent. I’m less needed and so able to go away for different periods of time.”

After filing for divorce from Pitt in 2016, Jolie worked less. “We had to heal,” she told The Wall Street Journal, of her and her kids taking time away. “There are things we needed to heal from.”  

Angelina Jolie poses with her children Shiloh, Zahara, Vivienne, Maddox and Knox at the “Eternals” premiere in 2021. (Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)

Sarah Evans, President and CEO of Sevans PR, explains that actresses like Jolie are “setting a cultural benchmark.” 

“It’s empowering to see influential women make a stand for personal over professional life, especially in an industry that often scrutinizes their every move. It sends a powerful message about priorities and personal fulfillment.”

“They can branch out into roles like producing or directing, which don’t demand constant public presence and align better with personal commitments.”

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock is exceptionally private with her life, but openly discusses the importance of being a mother. (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

Academy Award-winning actress Sandra Bullock has slowed down significantly in her Hollywood career since adopting her first child in 2010.

Bullock shot two movies in 2009, “The Proposal” and “All About Steve” and then started the adoption process with her ex-husband, Jesse James. The couple ultimately split, and Bullock continued with the adoption. 

She didn’t make another movie until 2015 with “Our Brand is Crisis,” in which she starred and executive produced. Later that year, Bullock shared that she had adopted a daughter. She waited three years to make another movie, and then went on another three-year hiatus.

Sandra Bullock shared two children, son Louis and daughter Laila with her late partner, Bryan Randall. (Gilbert Flores/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

In 2022, while promoting her latest feature film, “The Lost City,” Bullock said she was stepping away to focus on her family. “I need to be in the place that makes me happiest. And I take my job very seriously when I’m at work. And it’s a 24/7 [thing]. And I just want to be 24/7 with my babies and my family,” she told Entertainment Tonight.

“That’s it. And we don’t know how long or how short, but . . . that’s where I’m gonna be for a while.”