The name Jessica Alba (Jessica Marie Alba) has been heard across the globe since early 1994 up until today because of her major roles on the big screen, along with her several independent movies and TV shows.
Starting around 2011, another side of her was noticed by the public as she piloted her way into the baby-business industry upon starting her billion-dollar enterprise – The Honest Company. Amid all her success, her life as a wife and as a mother of three has not been a secret to fans. But, are you sure that you know her well? Here are some extraordinary facts you don’t want to miss about her.
10 Raised By A Military Father And A Lifeguard Mother
Alba has a special heart for serving people, what else to expect from a child raised by public servant parents. Growing up with a military father, Mark Alba, serving the US Air Force and moving frequently was a normal thing for Jessica.
Her father’s career took her family to Biloxi, Mississippi, when she was still a baby, then when she was three-years-old they moved again to California, then to Del Rio, Texas, and finally, they settled in Southern California when she was nine-years-old. Her mother, Catherine Jensen, was a lifeguard and a certified scuba diver who taught Jessica how to swim before she could walk.
9 Grew Up In A Religious Family
Aside from her born-again Christian parents, Alba also grew up under the care of her grandparents who were very religious Catholics. However, during her teenage years, she became rebellious and stopped attending evangelical mass and left the church. The church’s way of treating women is one of the factors that made her uncomfortable, so, with this, she decided to abandoned religion but still considers herself as spiritual. However, even after abandoning her roots, Alba vowed respect to her heritage by turning down roles that would require her to go nude as she believes that it is against the religious belief of her family.
8 Warrior And A Survivor
As a child, Jessica Alba battled serious health crises – with asthma, a weight problem and regular pneumonia. She had surgery on her kidneys and had her tonsils and appendix removed. However, her parents always encouraged her to pick herself up and not to be defined by her illness. In an article in DailyMail about Jessica Alba, she shared her childhood moment on a swim team where she came last by being chubby and slow and could hardly finish the game but her parents told her to finish what she had started. For Alba, her childhood may be painful but it is something that made her who she is today. Thanks to the tough love of her parents.
7 A Superhero In The Making
Growing up as a sick kid Jessica Alba had dreamt of becoming a superhero – having superpowers and overcome everything. This notion shaped her interest in becoming an actress. Along the way of her acting career, Alba successfully made herself a superhero in several action movies such as Dark Angel and Fantastic Four.Later she realized that there are roles attached and expected of female superheroes that aren’t favorable for real female characterization. After her role as a Sue Storm in Fantastic Four, she was able to grasp the reality that even movies are still lent towards the representational consideration of machismo fantasy.
6 On A Plant-Based Meal Diet
Jessica Alba has a healthy mindset. She always cared about what she ate as she has been devoted to healthy living due to her childhood health status. Thus, she has been working with a nutritionist, wellness expert, and health coach. Alba shares that she never been big on breakfast, instead, she preferred her particular blend of a shake made up of vegan protein powder, a banana, matcha green tea powder, coconut water, and ice.
On her Twitter and Instagram posts in February 2019, she pledges under Greenprint for two plant-based meals during a week for herself and the planet. Likewise, she always paired her diet with her workout routine.
5 Climate Change Influencer
Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) joined the Twitter world in November 2009. A recent analysis from Global Real News claims that she has 9,117,336 followers, following 1,485 people, tweeted 6,522 times, liked 1,828 tweets, and uploaded 1,292 photos and videos. Her most popular tweet is a post she retweeted from TIME that shows a video of Greta Thunberg calling for the attention of the world leaders for climate justice during the U.N. climate summit, which gathered 5,089 direct replies and 163,000 likes. Around six months before the U.N. climate forum, she already expresses her climate concerns.
4 Women's Rights Advocate
Jessica Alba has been standing up for women's rights for a long time. In many of her interviews and posts, she always encourages women to share their unfiltered experiences as women in this modern era, to fight against sex trafficking, rape, forced prostitution, and for women to support each other. Consequently, she never fails to improve the workplace for women at her co-founded company – The Honest Company while she tries getting more women into the company’s workforce and encouraging them to take on leadership roles. The company launched an employee resource group called “Women Excelling in Leadership and Living” to debunk the traditional biases in the laborforce.
3 A Heart For Charity Work
Jessica Alba supports around forty charities and foundations at present including Baby2Baby, Cancer Research Institute, Children’s Defense Fund, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Feeding America, Global Poverty Project, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Revlon Run/Walk for Women, US Doctors for Africa, among others. In 2013, after the super typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, Jessica made a generous donation worth $51,445 of retail products through Operation USA necessary for the recovery of the affected communities. With her extensive advocacies, she has been a recipient of the Mt. Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center Champion for Children Award and Love Our Children USA’s “Mothers Who Make a Difference” Award.
2 Safe Chemical Supporter
Like many other mothers and wives, Jessica wants nothing but a healthy family but like most other consumers she has no assurance on whether or not the products that she is using are free from harmful chemicals. Those that may link to several health issues like childhood cancer, and learning and development disabilities. Together with concerned pediatricians, nurses, and other American moms, Alba joined the call urging US Congress to strengthen the law on the management of chemicals for everyday products by calling the attention of the members of Congress to co-sponsor the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011. Introduced by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, it means to upgrade the nation’s system of managing chemical safety to protect communities, especially the children and pregnant women.
1 Basketball Enthusiast
Call her a philanthropist, feminist, climate activist, best actress in the world, successful entrepreneur, but it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have a love for sports. Jessica Alba was one of the Golden State Warrior's biggest fans long before the team had Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Oftentimes, Alba has been spotted to be sitting courtside during Golden State Warrior basketball games, often along with her husband Cash Warren. She is also a fan of the University of California Los Angeles Bruins basketball as well. Often sitting ringside at their games as well with her hubby and now and then her kids.
