Not even she seems to be able to take it in. “This is crazy! I am so over the moon and so excited for this new chapter in my career. Let’s go,” Jessica Alba writes on her Instagram post. account on Instagram to her more than 20 million followers. She has reason to be excited: after five years completely removed from the mecca of cinema, Alba has returned in style with Triggersa thriller action movie that has become one of the most watched on Netflix in almost a hundred countries (it is number one in Spain and the United States) to become the first big hit of the summer period on the platform, with more than 25 million views in just three days. And because Hollywood never lets a good story of return and redemption pass by, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, organizer of the Oscars, has invited her this week to be a member of it 25 years after the Californian became one of the most promising faces in the industry. A “dream come true,” in her own words, for the unexpected protagonist of the cinematic summer and one of the most unusual careers in the hills of Los Angeles.
The public success of Triggers defies the poor reception given to the film by critics, who called it “idiotic,” “formulaic” and “disposable” by the specialized press. Alba plays a female Rambo, an elite soldier with post-traumatic disorder who returns to her hometown after the death of her father and faces a violent gang that has terrified the neighbors on her own. Despite recommendations to the actress to look for better material for her future projects, the truth is that the formula offered by Netflix to the forgotten stars of the beginning of the century who long to regain their status has proven to be a winner. In the space of just a few months, Lindsay Lohan (An Irish Wish), Halle Berry (Wound) or Brooke Shields (The bride’s mother) have also starred in films that have become hits of the streaming despite the mediocre assessment of the experts. Cameron Diaz, who has been retired from cinema for a decade, will repeat her move on Netflix this November with another thriller adrenaline, Back to actionalongside Jamie Foxx.
While most movie stars take advantage of their sabbatical years away from the sets to attend to their physical and mental health, dedicate quality time to their loved ones or try themselves in a new artistic or intellectual facet, Jessica Alba has taken advantage of these five years of absence to become a billionaire. As evidenced by a fortune valued at 100 million dollars, and that last year the placed Among the 10 richest actresses in all of Hollywood, the actress has triumphed at the head of The Honest Company, the firm specializing in sustainable products for personal care and the home that she founded in 2011. Driven by the chronic allergies she has suffered since childhood, she sought to respond to the interest in toxic-free products for babies, especially diapers and wipes, with such commercial success that she ended up starring on the cover of the prestigious magazine Forbes and expanding its product portfolio to include cosmetics, fashion and home decor. With Alba as creative director and face of the marketing strategy, Honest managed to overcome several controversies regarding the sustainable integrity of its products and go public in 2021. Last April, perhaps anticipating this return to the Hollywood spotlight, she stepped down from her executive positions at a company that was once valued at more than $1 billion. “This journey has been the adventure of a lifetime, one that only existed in my wildest dreams,” said the 43-year-old businesswoman.
Married to producer Cash Warren since 2008 and mother of three children (Honor, 16; Haven, 12, and Hayes, 6), Alba decided to retire from the film mecca, disenchanted with her career. Although she began working at the age of 13, her rise to international fame would come at the beginning of the century, with her starring role in the series Dark Angel and their roles in The Fantastic Four either Sin Citywhich led her to be named the most sexy of the world in 2007 by the magazine FHM. Fed up with being objectified — “for most people I’m that girl in a bikini in the movies,” she confessed —, at 27 years old she was practically on the verge of retirement. Nor did she help, in her own words, her ethnic lack of definition in an industry obsessed with labels: “They told me, ‘You’re not Latina enough to play a Latina, nor Caucasian enough to be the protagonist, so that you will be the ‘exotic’.
The birth of Honor, his first daughter, exploded the decision he had been contemplating for some time. “She couldn’t go back to what she was doing before and be authentic. She just couldn’t. “I didn’t care in the same way anymore.” evoked The actress from Pomona, a Californian town located 50 kilometers east of Los Angeles, in the magazine Break“My motivation wasn’t whether I would ever be hired again. And frankly, I was at the top of my career.” With motherhood also came the traumas of a childhood marked by poor health: “My mother had ovarian cancer very young, in her early twenties. I grew up with chronic illnesses. I had five surgeries before I was 11. I had chronic allergies and was hospitalized many times as a child.”
Despite having grown up in a family of Latin American origin, “very conservative, traditional and Catholic,” Alba defines herself as “feminist and left-wing” since her youth and has not hesitated to criticize the sexist behaviors that continue to dominate society. Cinema industry. “She always wanted to be treated the same way she saw men treated. If they had any idea about their character or the story, they would say, ‘Oh, you’re very smart,’ while the women would say, ‘What? Do you have an opinion?’. “While they were seen as self-confident and powerful, we seemed aggressive,” stated In an interview. Alba so detested director Tim Story’s behavior towards her in one of the biggest blockbusters of her career, Fantastic Four and Silver Surferwho considered quitting the profession right there. “I hated it. I really hated it. I remember when I was dying the director said to me, ‘It seems too real. Too painful. Can you be more beautiful when you cry? ‘” To remedy this, the actress’s new chapter in her life is also marked by the launch of a production company — Lady Spitfire — committed to “the most diverse narratives focused on women” and which has in mind Triggers his first example of success. In a few months it will be followed by the premiere of a new season of Honest Renovationsa television format Queer Eye in which Alba herself and actress Lizzy Mathis offer to renovate the homes of families without resources.
