Jessica Alba reveals she channeled her “masculine energy” to avoid Hollywood predators as she established her career.
The Fantastic Four alum appeared on the latest episode of HBO Max’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? The host spoke about Hollywood’s infatuation with Alba’s looks, asking, “Did that bother you, the degree to which you were objectified as a sex symbol?”
“Yeah, I think it’s funny, because I guess I understood that I needed to help sell the product, and they sell it how they do. So I understood it as a business decision and a strategy,” the 41-year-old answered.
She went on to clarify that she doesn’t believe anything is wrong with a person owning their sexuality. “Frankly, at the time, I was definitely not that person,” she said while laughing. “I was very nervous about all of that, and I was quite uncomfortable in my own skin.”
The Honest Company founder stated that it wasn’t until she had children that she began to see herself as a “woman or a sexual being or someone who owned her power and her femininity.”
Alba recalled protecting herself using an “armor of masculine, and masculine energy” to “avoid” misogyny. “Because there were a lot of predators in Hollywood from [the time I was] age 12 till 26.”
Asked how she dealt with that danger, she said, “I was a warrior, and I put up that energy. … I was really tough, man. I cursed like a sailor, and I was very—I think I tried to make myself as unavailable as possible so that I wouldn’t be taken advantage of.”
The mother of three has shifted gears in recent years from starring on the big screen. She is now more business-focused than ever. “I thought about my purpose differently. And I really started to assess what was bringing me joy and what I felt, at that time, [was] a little bit…draining,” she told Wallace, referring to her time at the center of Hollywood.
Alba said the industry is a “very different Hollywood today than it was 14 years ago,” noting she was working prior to the #MeToo movement. “I just took a step back, and kind of let it do its thing. The town was very different. And a lot more toxic masculinity ran a lot of the decision-making.”
