Jessica Alba Jokes That Her 3 Kids "Exploded My Body"—But She's Cool With It

Actress and Honest Company co-founder opens up about embracing her insecurities in new interview

By Jess Cohen Aug 06, 2019 3:54 PMTags

Jessica Alba is opening up about embracing her insecurities.

The actress and Honest Company co-founder, who shares kids Honor, 11, Haven, 7, and Hayes, 1, with husband Cash Warren, gets candid about her body and family life in the September issue of InStyle. The magazine, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, also features former InStyle cover stars Jennifer Aniston, Kerry Washington, Demi Moore, Kate Hudson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Meg Ryan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Garner, as well as Julianne Moore, who covers the anniversary edition.

In her piece for the magazine, Alba reflects on her life in the entertainment industry, and all of the insecurities that come along with being in the public eye.

Watch
Why Jessica Alba Goes to Therapy With Her Daughter Honor

Alba landed her first InStyle cover back in June 2007, when she was just 26.

"It made me feel like I had finally arrived," Alba, now 38, shares. "I was a big fan of the magazine because it made high fashion feel accessible. By that time I'd been in the [entertainment] business for over a decade, but I was still trying to figure out how to be in the public eye and have ownership over who I was."

She adds, "Ninety percent of what people understood about me then came purely from magazine articles, press-tour interviews, and blurbs of gossip."

Six year later, Alba graced the cover of another InStyle issue, and much had change in her personal life. Since her last cover, Alba wed Warren and had daughters Honor and Haven.

"For the first time in my life I was really embracing my womanhood," Alba says. "I was in my early 30s, and it had taken up until then for me to feel confident in my body. I also stopped allowing myself to be objectified in the press through a male's perspective. Screw that, man."

She tells readers, "It's OK to be sexy. It's OK to wear a short skirt or a loud print if I feel like it because I own it in my own way. I can flaunt what I want, cover what I want, and still feel good."

Alba shot her most recent InStyle cover in July 2018, when son Hayes was just seven months old. Reflecting on the cover shoot, Alba notes, "If I had been younger, I probably would have been obsessed with dieting and exercising, but instead I thought, 'This is where I'm at. This is my life. And this is my body.'"

Watch: Why Jessica Alba Goes to Therapy With Her Daughter Honor

Alba, who describes her 2007-self as "prickly, insecure, dorky," says that she was "insecure" back then when she shot her first cover with the magazine.

"I felt like I needed to be someone I wasn't in order to be accepted," Alba shares. "I allowed other people's ideas of who they thought I should be to define me. Who am I now? I give zero f--ks. I have three children. They've exploded my body, and I'm cool with it. [laughs] And I know I'm smart. I don't care what everybody else thinks. I'm good, girl. I'm good."

So, how does Alba describe herself now? "Still a dork, smart, independent."

For more from Alba's feature, head on over to InStyle!

Latest News