Jessica Alba seemed to have it all: movie star, good looks, a loving husband, three beautiful children, and a flourishing business career. Many people are unaware of Alba’s troubled past and all that she has overcome to be where she is now.

Alba has spoken openly about her lack of confidence in her abilities and in herself. She said on  “Let’s Be Real with Sammy Jaye” “I was so painfully insecure about my acting talent. Because I felt so criticized, I was the toughest judge. I don’t think I felt deserving.”

Alba also joked that she “never had a great experience” while making some of her early films due to her anxiousness and fear. She went on to say that her family, like many others, lived “paycheck to paycheck,” which is never an easy position for anyone.

The “Fantastic Four” actress is without a doubt one of the toughest women in Hollywood, and her life story is quite inspiring.

Jessica Alba revealed facts about her past in “If I’d Known Then,” a compilation of writings by female celebrities edited by Ellyn Spragins. When Alba began to grow a larger chest than the rest of her friends, the administration of her school and some of the PTA mothers she referred to as “self-righteous” dubbed her a pejorative nickname.

“They think I’m a slut?” she continued, her charge still ricocheting. Alba told Cosmopolitan that she went through early puberty, which prompted some of her relatives afraid to hug her.

She went on to say that she would pretty much go out with any boy who asked her out because she had never had a date invitation from anyone before starting to date the much older Michael Weatherly.

Alba lost her virginity to her “Dark Angel” co-star, Weatherly, when she was a teenager, and the two became close. Weatherly and Alba even got engaged when she was only 20 and he was 33.  Alba’s Christian parents were opposed to the romance, which affected her family’s relationship.

She also knew that he was not the nicest person when “Bull” actor Eliza Dukshu accused him of sexual harassment on CBS. Alba admitted that she would never date an actor again because of her relationship with Weatherly.

Jessica Alba grew up in a religious household after her parents converted to Christianity. Alba, on the other hand, left her church as an adolescent for a number of reasons. Alba said that she first fell in love when she was 16 years old.

“I had a huge crush on… He had to be a drag queen. This happened while I was working at Vermont’s Atlantic Theater Company, and he was both bisexual and a ballerina.”

“We used to go to this homosexual bar four nights a week, where I would dance with him all night. I thought there was no way this person could go to hell because I was so completely in love with him.”

Alba’s religion, unlike most, did not accept pre-marital sex and believed that “anyone who is gay is going to hell.” Because of her strong feelings for this person, the actress began to question her religious views, and she grew to despise how homophobic the church was as a result.

Alba also stated at Gwenyth Paltrow’s GOOP Health Summit that she left her church because its youth pastor made her feel guilty that older men would approach her because of her looks. We can see why she chose to abandon her faith.

Jessica Alba’s popularity was rising in the mid-1990s, when she began filming “Flipper,” a new series based on the iconic dolphin, at the age of 15. Alba was kidnapped on the set of “Flipper,” and she was missing for more than 14 hours, making it one of the most heinous kidnappings in Hollywood history.

According to Mirror, she began receiving unusual phone calls, which she believed to be hoax calls. Her kidnapping occurred shortly after the unusual phone calls. After a lengthy search, Alba was located chained and blindfolded in a car trunk.

The case was eventually dropped since Jessica Alba was unable to provide investigators with any information on her kidnapping. Despite the fact that the kidnapping was eventually revealed to the media, Alba has kept a low profile and has never spoken openly about it.

Jessica Alba said that she had been bullied as a child at school. “My father had to accompany me there to prevent an attack.  I would have my lunch in the nurses’ office to avoid having to sit with the other females. I used to be constantly bullied and beaten. It was about being different and trying to fit in.”

The “Sin City” star went on to explain that being mixed race and having poor parents didn’t help. “I grew up in a conservative environment, and many of the girls were cared for by a big number of nannies, so they could get away with anything,” she went on.

Furthermore, Alba said that she was informed she couldn’t look any of the cast members in the eyes while filming “90210,” even going so far as to say she’d be thrown off the set if she did. Yikes!

“I’m strong now because I never fought back as a kid,” the actress said. “I didn’t want to be reduced to the level of my abusers.” Even when people show her kindness, she professes to be skeptical since she isn’t used to it and always feels the need to be on guard. Heartbreaking.

Jessica Alba and her parents haven’t always gotten along due to their opposing religious beliefs, but she is still a loving daughter. In 2021, she revealed to Romper that her mother had previously battled cancer, and Alba herself had a history of health problems.

“My mother was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 20. Growing up, I had a chronic illness. I underwent five procedures before the age of eleven. As a child, I spent a lot of time in hospitals due to my terrible allergies,” she admitted.

The same year as her Romper interview, Alba announced on Instagram that her father, Mark Alba, was suffering from thyroid cancer. They had a sweet father-daughter dance, and she captioned the photo, “My father is starting radiation treatment in the morning and is about to SLAY thyroid cancer.”

Fortunately, Alba noticed that her comments section was flooded with words of support for her family from her friends and followers.

Mark Alba began radiation treatment at the same time that he became ill with COVID-19 – talk about bad timing. His real estate company also revealed the scar on his neck and the fact that he has COVID in an Instagram post.

Jessica Alba confirmed the death of her dog Sid just a few weeks after announcing on Instagram that she and her husband Cash Warren were expecting their third child. Even Sid, a small celebrity in his own right, participated in Alba’s film “Honey.”

They had no idea Alba’s family would be losing another dog, which was awful. Two weeks later, she posted on Instagram, “I arrived home to a house without a dog because our beloved girl Bowie has joined her sister Sidders in eternal peace. The last two weeks have been difficult. I will always remember our final night of hugging. Bowmeister was the loveliest love bug.”

While many of Alba’s well-known friends and admirers expressed their condolences, a number of cute photographs of Bowie the dog were shared on social media.

Jessica Alba has been a household name for more than 10 years, both to her career as an actor and as CEO of The Honest Company. Alba appeared to stop performing at the peak of her career in order to prioritize the health of her children and family.

In an interview with Romper, she stated that her health was incredibly important to her. “That was my main motivator. I wasn’t motivated by the thought, “Will I ever get hired again?” To be honest, I was at the pinnacle of my field. I was unable to resume my prior activities in an authentic manner after Honor.”

“I simply couldn’t do it. It was something bigger, therefore I didn’t care as much as I used to. What could I possible achieve with this platform that would be meaningful and valuable if I had it? That suddenly felt so true when I became a mother for the first time.”

Furthermore, many of Alba’s films had disappointing box office returns and earned negative reviews for their acting, causing her to slide off the A-list. According to Forbes, even though her company is now thriving and publicly traded on the Nasdaq (yeah girl! ), the route to success was not easy.

Jessica Alba routinely wins cases, including one brought by stockholders who claimed Honest was lying about sales during the COVID-19 outbreak. That’s a true lady boss!