Jessica Alba Felt ‘Objectified & Uncomfortable’

Jessica Alba covers the June 2012 issue of Marie Claire for which she gives an interview about spending the first half of her career in a bikini. The 31-year-old says she spent a lot of her career being ‘objectified’ which made her ‘uncomfortable.’ Which is ‘bulls**t,’ because no one forced her to take those roles and she had on her big girl panties, at 19, in Dark Angel, so she knew the score. In any case, her interview, shoot, and behind-the-scenes video are below.

On being marketed for her looks: ‘I had a show that premiered when I was 19. And right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed. I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That’s what people expected… I felt like I was being objectified, and it made me uncomfortable. I wanted to be chic and elegant!’
On growing into her sexuality: ‘Now that I’m older, I’ve learned how to own it, but I’m still not very overt. There are some women who dress for men. I dress for myself. It took me some time to get here. Being a mom and feeling grown-up have helped. Now if I’m going to wear something short, it has to have a high neck or a little sci-fi toughness to it, an edge.’
On how she turned it around: ‘I like to get positive attention. But if I have a choice between someone noticing in a negative way what I’m wearing and going, ‘What was she thinking?’ or someone not noticing what I’m wearing, I would rather not make a statement at all and just have a good conversation instead.’