Jessica Alba is opening up about her decision to take a back seat from acting after the birth of her first child.
The 39-year-old actress and co-founder of The Honest Company is on the March cover of Romper and talked to the publication about how becoming a mother in 2008 to her daughter Honor, changed how she viewed her health and her career.
“My mother had cancer at a really young age. Many women in my family have passed from various different cancers, none of them genetic,” Alba said, adding she also “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 said.
“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. “
The Honey actress said that she realized after Honor’s birth that she “couldn’t go back to what I was doing before and be authentic. I just couldn’t. I just didn’t care about it anymore the same way. It was something bigger.”