Cameron Diaz thinks Jamie Foxx is a winner.
The four-time Golden Globe-nominated actress opened up about working with the actor on the Netflix film “Back in Action” after he suffered a mysterious illness in April that landed him in the hospital.
“I really hate all of the things that were being said about our set at the time,” she said on the latest episode of Molly Sims’ “Lipstick on the Rim” podcast. “You just want to scream at the top of your lungs, like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Diaz, 51, who previously shared the screen with Foxx, 56, in 1999’s “Any Given Sunday” and 2014’s “Annie,” said some of the rumors surrounding the film, including that she wanted to quit acting after the “Ray” star had a meltdown on set, were “crazy.”
“Jamie is, like, the cheerleader for the entire crew,” Diaz continued. “Everybody loves him. We have so much fun on the set with him, and he’s just a professional on every level.”
The “Holiday” star also refuted claims Foxx was difficult to work with and that, as she described the rumor, he was “making everything miserable and that I was never gonna make another movie again because of him.”
Diaz, who is married to Good Charlotte frontman Benji Madden, announced her retirement from acting in 2018 but was happy to return to work alongside Foxx after nearly a decade away from the camera.
“Jamie is the best,” she said to Sims, 50. “I love that guy so much. He’s such a special person and he’s so talented, so much fun.”‘
In March, it was reported that production had been halted when an employee was allegedly fired after someone tried to steal over $40,000 from Foxx, but Diaz suggested this claim was false.
“The hiccups that happened throughout [the] production are the natural kinds of things that happen, but nothing got delayed other than, obviously, toward the end,” she explained, alluding to Foxx’s medical issue. “And that’s something that is not my place to speak about.”
Despite some reports that Foxx is “still not himself,” Diaz insisted that the actor is “thriving. “When I see and hear people trying to take another person down like that … [Jamie is] so classy. He’s like, ‘Nope. Just let them [talk] … We know the truth,’” she said. “Still, it just really made me angry.”
Filming for “Back in Action” began at the end of 2022. Foxx previously applauded his co-star’s talent and claimed he lured her out of retirement.
“Cameron is such an incredible force and she has done so much in this business. We love her,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “It was literally, ‘Do you wanna have some fun? Just have some fun!’ And I think that’s what brought her to it.
“We miss special moments sometimes, in our business, and I think this is a special moment,” he said of Diaz’s return to movies. “So we’re so happy that it’s happening and looking forward to it.”