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Jessica Alba is opening up about how her childhood of health struggles continues to impact her to this day. According to the A-lister, her health concerns were most pressing when she was pregnant with her first baby. Since her family has a history of health problems – and Alba herself has dealt with chronic illness throughout her childhood – health was definitely something on her mind when it came to becoming a mother.
Alba explained to Romper, "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 hospitalized a lot as a child."
"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," she continued. "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."
This definitely played a role in her most recent career moves, specifically founding Honest Company, a wellness-focused brand. "That's really what motivated me. My motivation was not like, 'Am I ever going to get hired again?' Frankly, I was at the top of my career," she explained.
For Alba, acting no longer held the same appeal. "I couldn't go back to what I was doing before and be authentic. I just couldn't. I didn't care about it the same way," she continued. "It was something bigger. I felt like if I was going to have this platform, then what can I do with it that could be meaningful and make a difference? That just felt so real when I became a mom for the first time."
Despite her star power, it was not exactly easy to start Honest Company. "Building a brand and building a business is f***ing impossible," she said.
"And to be good at it and for it to thrive and scale, it is really hard. If anything, I was like, 'Do I really want to do this?' It took me three-and-a-half years just to find partners to even join me, and I got lots of rejection," she admitted. "I had to learn how to build decks. In every stage, I'm trying to get better and better as a business person, but it's a totally different skill set than just taking your influence and fame and putting your name on a package and doing a press tour, picking out a couple designs. You know what I mean?"
