Jessica Alba: A-List Beauty Turned Masterful Businesswoman

Jessica Alba has been sitting in a booth at the Beverly Hills Hotel for about five seconds—barely enough time to put down her personalized red quilted-leather Valentino handbag—when she is approached by two breathless teenagers. “Can we, can we, gurgle … blah … eek,” they say while Alba poses gamely for pictures. They let out a squeak and flee.

Jessica is very popular. she is fully aware of that. But her capitalizing on her fame, stemming from an acting career that began in her teens , is not like something out of a sorority—it’s much more conscientious, more type A, than that. While Alba, 37, knew a while ago that she was big screen stunning and charismatic (and looked damn fine in a sexy mini dress), she was already diligently calibrating something more than she already had.

So here she is, married 10 years to longtime love Cash Warren, a mother of three (Honor, 10, Haven, 6, and the brand-new Hayes, 7 months), and the founder and face of one of the largest born-from-celebrity-mamahood business successes, The Honest Company. Alba may return to film having recently filmed the pilot for L.A.’s Finest, a Bad Boys spin-off, with Gabrielle Union. But right now she’ll just have a wine and some self-analysis, please.

LB: You’ve gone back to television after a 10-year hiatus with the L.A.’s Finest pilot. How was it?
JA: It was awesome. I missed it. I feel like my purpose in life was to create Honest, and everything led me to that. But my heart is with entertainment, acting, performing, and that world. I knew it was a matter of time. I just didn’t know it was going to be two months after having a baby.