Jessica Alba reveals how she avoided ‘predators in Hollywood’

Jessica Alba has spoken candidly about her early years in the film industry and how she protected herself against “predators in Hollywood.”

The 41-year-old actress was just 12 when she landed her first on-screen role in the 1994 adventure comedy No camping anywhere.

From there, Alba made a name for herself by portraying characters whose beauty and sexuality were central to their identities in films such as dance-romance Honey (2003) and Action Noir Sin City – Recut, Extended, Unrated (2005).

Talking to CNN’s Chris Wallace in a new video interview, the Fantastic Four star dealt with Hollywood’s objectification of her as a sex symbol in the early stages of her career.

“I knew I had to help sell the product and they sell it the way they do. So I took it as a business decision and as a strategy,” explained Alba.

“And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with owning and owning your sexuality,” she clarified. “To be honest, I definitely wasn’t that person at the time. I was very nervous about all of this and I felt pretty uncomfortable in my own skin.”

She admitted that “it wasn’t until I became a mother that I really started to see myself as a woman or as a sexual being or as someone who had her power and her femininity.”

Alba has three children, Honor, 14, Haven, 11, and Hayes, five, with her film producer husband, Cash Warren.

“Back then, I felt like I had to put on that armor of male and masculine energy so I wouldn’t be exploited because in Hollywood, from the ages of 12 to 26 — when I came in — there were a lot of predators pregnant with honor,” she added added.

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Describing herself as a “warrior” who “swears like a sailor,” she said, “I think I was trying to make myself as unavailable as possible so I wouldn’t be taken advantage of.”