A prominent face of the early 2000s, Jessica Alba became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars thanks to her roles in numerous blockbusters and...
A prominent face of the early 2000s, Jessica Alba became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars thanks to her roles in numerous blockbusters and successful features.
The actor’s first movie appearance was in Jonathon Prince’s 1994 comedy Camp Nowhere before earning a Golden Globe nomination for her work on the series Dark Angel.
However, it was 2003 that brought Alba her breakout role, a time when she played Honey Daniels in Billie Woodruff’s dance film Honey.
From that success, the star then moved into some of Hollywood’s biggest box office hits, such as Sue Storm in Fantastic Four and Cam Wexler in Good Luck Chuck. However, Alba has taken a step back from the limelight, appearing in the lesser-known exploitation film Machete Kills.
“My mother had cancer at a really young age, in her early 20s. I grew up with chronic illness. I had five surgeries before I was 11 years old. I had chronic allergies, and I was hospitalised a lot as a child,” she told Romper when asked about her life and career. “I had this real moment of, I want to live and thrive, and spend as much time with this little person that I’m bringing into the world as possible and stay. So, my health matters. I want this little person to be healthy. And it’s really freaking hard to be happy when you don’t have your health.”
However, an even more terrifying experience happened earlier in the star’s career, a moment when she experienced a dangerous run-in with a stalker-turned-kidnapper.
While shooting her first show, Flipper, in 1996, a 15-year-old Alba began to receive strange phone calls. Initially, she dismissed them as a harmless prank, but things took an unexpected turn.
The actor was kidnapped from the set and missing for 14 hours. Upon being found bound and gagged in a car boot, she could not provide any information, so the case was dismissed. Alba has refused to discuss the terrifying incident publicly, and the culprit has remained anonymous.
Alba also sat down with The Daily Beast to discuss her challenges in her adolescence, primarily through her family’s involvement with the Catholic Church. “Older men would hit on me, and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing when I wasn’t,” Alba recalled. “It just made me feel like if I was in any way desirable to the opposite sex that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and being a woman.”
This mistreatment and objectification followed the actor into her career, as she had to fight against typecasting due to her appearance; one of the many problems women in Hollywood face alongside difficulty finding work once they reach a certain age.
This shallow perception channels into the headlines that feel the need to comment on her looks. When asked about headlines that use the words “saucy” and other shallow terms, Alba shared her outlook: “You have to know who your audience is, and you have to know who you’re writing for.
Your audience is more sophisticated and well-read, and they know who Jim Cameron and Robert Rodriguez are.”
She added: “But a 13-year-old boy may not know that off-hand, so they have to think of these ‘saucy’ and ‘sizzling’ one-liners, and when you read the article, you’re probably disappointed because I’m nothing like that headline.”
“So I’ve done a bit of comedy, action… I don’t feel like I’ve been typecast too much.”
The actor now feels more control of her work and how she is perceived, helped by the company she founded in 2011, focused on providing more than adequate baby products to ensure health for infants. “And certainly, now, it’s much more fun because I have the stability of my company, so it allows me the freedom to work and do stuff on film that is exciting and take more chances,” Alba shared. “It’s very liberating now as an actor.”
Watch Alba discuss her journey since the incident below.
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