Jessica Alba 'stopped eating' to prevent unwanted male attention early in her career

21 May 2019, 16:03 | Updated: 21 May 2019, 16:10

By Mared Parry

@maredparry

Hollywood actress and businesswoman Jessica admitted she "felt ashamed" if she tempted men with her body, so stopped eating.

Stunning mum-of-three Jessica Alba spoke out about how she literally "stopped eating" earlier on in her career as she wanted to protect herself from men who would prey on her.

The actress made the confession when moderating a panel about women in Hollywood at friend Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop summit on Monday.

She was joined by Taraji P. Henson, Olivia Wilde and Busy Philipps where the all discussed a diversity of issues that women in their industry face.

38-year-old Jessica opened up about the body shaming she dealt with growing up, explaining that when she was younger she wanted to wear Pepe jeans, but that her family told her not to as she was "voluptuous" as she "had a booty".

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She continued that this made her "feel ashamed if I tempted men", and that "then I stopped eating a lot, when I became an actress.

"I made myself look more like a boy so I wouldn't get as much attention."

The founder of The Honest Company revealed that it wasn't until she gave birth to her first daughter, Honor 10 years ago that she developed a healthy relationship with her body.

Speaking about the realisation her body was meant to give birth and feed a baby, she told the crowd: "that was the dopest s**t I’d ever done, so I was like ‘Yes.’ So then I came into my body as a woman finally."