Cameron Diaz quit acting at the peak of her career to assess what made her feel whole.

The 49-year-old, whose last role before her eight-year hiatus from the big screen was Miss Hannigan in 2014 musical remake Annie, added she grew to miss aspects of her job on her break.

She told CBS: "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."

Diaz is making a comeback to acting and earlier this month it was announced that she would appear alongside her Annie co-star Jamie Foxx, 54, in the upcoming Netflix film Back in Action.

She said: "I mean, I miss aspects of acting, or making movies. Yeah, making movies is a particular skillset that is fun to exercise and be a part of. But yeah, it's a different lifestyle and you kind of have to be ready to do that."

The actress' return to work means she'll also be juggling parenting her and 43-year-old husband Benji Madden's daughter Raddix, who turns three in December.

She said: "Everybody only has 100 per cent and you always have to figure out how you're going to divide that 100 per cent to spread it to all that parts of your life that matter."

Asked what she loves the most about motherhood, Diaz said: "Gosh, I think just being able to, you know, have influence on a child that's developing.

"All mothers have that moment where you're watching your child and they're doing something for the first time, and you're like, 'I remember doing that.' It's really cool."