Jessica Alba has her hands full — but she’s managed to figure out how to balance it all. The mom of three and Honest Company co-founder shared with Arianna Huffington for the latest Thrive Global Podcast everything from how she built a billion-dollar company from the ground up to how she’s raising her daughters to be confident and more.
The actress-turned-entreprenuer welcomed her third child with husband Cash Warren, Hayes, in December 2017, and shared that raising her baby boy, along with daughters Honor, 10, and Haven, 7, is like a social experiment.
“It's like the coolest social experiment ... because my three kids are so different, and you nurture them and tell them, you know, you give them a similar environment to grow up in, but what they take from it is different, and how they view themselves, and how they exist in the world, is all very different,” she told Arianna while discussing family, work-life balance. “But there are certain things that my husband and I were pretty adamant about, and that's nice manners and kindness.”
She’s also adamant about establishing confidence in her two daughters, especially when it comes to self-acceptance and ever-changing beauty standards.
"It starts so young too,” Alba reflected while discussing social conventions around beauty and body image. “I’ve tried to, because the word ‘pretty’ and ‘ugly’ are early on in their vocabulary, I've always tried to attach meanness and hatefulness to ‘ugly,’ and kindness to ‘pretty,’” she explained. “And it's hard, because one's an act, or a feeling that you get when someone's treating you a certain way, versus another one that's just like a physical ... But I try to talk to them about how beauty's different depending on where you are, and different cultures think certain things are beautiful that other cultures don't, so I try to open their minds about that a little bit. But just that trying to attach that very basic idea that when you're mean, and when you are trying to be hurtful, that is ugly. And when you are kind, that is pretty.”
The Sin City actress also makes sure not to criticize herself in front of her daughters, especially when it comes to her weight.
“I never talk about dieting. I never criticize my body in front of them. I don't look at my body critically in front of them,” she continued. “I try not to display any of that behavior [when] I know they're watching me, even if I say something, if they see their mom treat herself a certain way, then that's going to be, really, their reality, and that's going to be their story. So, my mom was not very nice to herself and her body when I was growing up and so I have, probably, a lot of my own body insecurities and issues because ... just from absorbing."
Listen back to Arianna and Jessica’s full chat in the audio above to hear more on Alba's parenting, plus how she built now billion-dollar company, The Honest Company, from the ground up and more.
The Thrive Global Podcast with iHeartRadio, hosted by Arianna Huffington, where she speaks with notable leaders, celebrities, athletes and influencers to learn how prioritizing well-being — instead of burnout and overwork — has made them happier and more successful. This podcast provides tips, tools and microsteps to transform your life and go from surviving to thriving.
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