Bruger:Boble-bobben/sandkasse

2012–2014: Final film acting roles

In 2012 Diaz was cast in What to Expect When You're Expecting, directed by Kirk Jones and based on the pregnancy guide of the same name. Diaz, who filmed her scenes in a two-week period, portrays Jules Baxter, a contestant on a celebrity dance show and a host to a weight-loss fitness show, who becomes pregnant with her dance partner's baby. Upon release, the ensemble comedy received mostly negative reviews, but became a moderate commercial success with a worldwide gross of US$84.4 million. Diaz's other film that year was Gambit, a remake of the 1966 film of the same name directed by Michael Hoffman and scripted by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews, and performed poorly at the box office, grossing only US$10 million internationally. Diaz also voiced Sigmund Freud in A Liar's Autobiography (2012), a British animated comedy film that is a (deliberately) completely inaccurate portrayal of the life of Monty Python alumnus Graham Chapman.

Kate Upton, Diaz, and Leslie Mann attending the premiere of The Other Woman in 2014

Diaz's only film project of 2013 was Ridley Scott's The Counselor, co-starring Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, and Brad Pitt. In the thriller about greed, death, the primal instincts of humans and their consequences, Diaz plays a pathological liar and a sociopath, an immigrant who is now living the high-life after escaping a sordid past as an exotic dancer. While the film's reception was negative, her performance was praised as one of her best in recent years.

Diaz's first film of 2014 was the romantic revenge comedy The Other Woman opposite Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Leslie Mann, and Kate Upton. While The Other Woman received mostly negative reviews from critics, who felt that it settled for cheap laughs, it opened atop the US weekend box office with earnings of US$24.7 million across the three days; it eventually made US$83.9 million in North America and US$196.7 million globally.

Her next film release in 2014 was the comedy Sex Tape, in which she starred with Jason Segel as a married couple waking up to discover that a sex tape they had made went missing, leading to a frantic search for its whereabouts. Although the negatively-reviewed film "flopped" at the domestic box office, it ultimately became a moderate commercial success with a worldwide gross of US$126 million. The role required Diaz to perform multiple scenes of nudity. On her decision to appear nude, Diaz said: "People have seen my butt. I've shown the top of my butt, the bottom of my butt. I'm not opposed to doing nudity, as long as it's part of the story. I'll do whatever has to get done if it's the right thing." Her final film that year was the film adaptation Annie, co-starring Quvenzhané Wallis, Jamie Foxx, and Rose Byrne. She took on the role of Miss Colleen Hannigan, the cruel control freak of the foster home where the titular character resides. Upon its December premiere, Annie made US$133 million worldwide, with Diaz's performance garnering polarized reviews; critics praising her effort, but ultimately calling it too "vampy", as well as "strident and obnoxious". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says that she "overacts the role to the point of hysteria". Diaz decided to take a break from acting following the release of Annie, stating in July 2017 that she became tired of traveling for filming, and confirmed her retirement from it the following March.

In late 2013, she published a health book, The Body Book: Feed, Move, Understand and Love Your Amazing Body, co-written with Sandra Bark. It was no. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list in March 2014. She then released The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time in June 2016. She has since invested in health and biotech startups, including Seed Health and Modern Acupuncture. In May 2019, she was a keynote speaker at The Infatuation's annual food festival, EEEEEATSCON.