Jessica Alba is opening up about the pressures of Hollywood and how the industry can affect female stars' body images as young women.
Appearing at Saturday's "In Goop Health" summit in Los Angeles, hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow, Alba appeared on a panel of stars including Taraji P. Henson, Olivia Wilde and Busy Philipps. Alba talked about how, as a teen, her management team encouraged her not to wear certain jeans because of her “booty” and how “voluptuous" she looked in them, per The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Tonight.
"I was meant to feel ashamed if I tempted men," she said, according to the outlets. "Then I stopped eating a lot, when I became an actress. I made myself look more like a boy so I wouldn't get as much attention."
Alba also said she felt “preyed upon” by men as a young woman of color in Hollywood. "Nothing about being successful in this business is easy," she said. "And it's really really hard to even think that you have the possibility of being successful, because everyone is shutting every door in your face and telling you why you can't. You can’t be bitter."
The 38-year-old entrepreneur and founder of The Honest Company, who has three children with producer Cash Warren, talked about how becoming a mother was "the dopest (expletive) I’d ever done."
"So then I came into my body as a woman finally,” she said about motherhood.