Jessica Alba opens up about reasons for her acting hiatus

Jessica Alba co-headlined police drama L.A.'s Finest with Gabrielle Union for two seasons before the series was canceled last fall, so it feels strange discussing her within the framework of an acting hiatus.

At the height of her mainstream fame, though, that was an all-encompassing reality. 

Alba reflected on that time for the new cover of Romper. In December 2007, it was publicly announced that Alba was pregnant with her first child. She was an indisputable A-lister from the Fantastic Four franchise, with the most recent film at the time being Rise of the Silver Surfer that summer. 

Once her daughter, Honor, was born in 2008, her career took a back seat. She found she didn't have it in her anymore to act in silly comedies such as Good Luck Chuck. Here's why: 

"My mother had cancer at a really young age, in her early 20s. I grew up with chronic illness. I had five surgeries before I was 11 years old. I had chronic allergies, and I was hospitalized a lot as a child. I had this real moment of, I want to live, and thrive, and spend as much time with this little person that I'm bringing into the world as possible and stay. So, my health matters. I want this little person to be healthy. And it's really freaking hard to be happy when you don't have your health.

"That's really what motivated me. My motivation was not like, ‘Am I ever going to get hired again?’ Frankly, I was at the top of my career. I couldn't go back to what I was doing before and be authentic. I just couldn't. I didn't care about it the same way. It was something bigger. I felt like if I was going to have this platform, then what can I do with it that could be meaningful and make a difference? That just felt so real when I became a mom for the first time."

Alba married Cash Warren in 2008, and the couple has welcomed two more children together: a daughter named in 2009, then a son named Hayes in 2017.