Jessica Alba Is Bossing It Out On Every Level. All Hail!

Leaving the murky world of Hollywood behind, Jessica Alba risked it all to launch her own company. We join the actress and entrepreneur at home – and find her bossing it on every level.

- Martha Hayes

I’m perched on a tiny stool in Jessica Alba’s enormous marble bathroom, singing “Old MacDonald had a farm… E-I-E-I-O”

While the Hollywood star washes her toddler son’s hair in the bathtub. Her two eldest children, daughters Honor, 11, and Haven, seven, are dressed in matching silk pyjamas, and Alba, 38, tells them they can sleep in her bed tonight since her husband (their dad, producer Cash Warren) is away. But on one condition, she says: “I’m not sleeping in the middle!”

The bathroom shelves are lined with products from The Honest Company – the successful wellness brand Alba founded in 2012 – and I wonder if this is an elaborate ploy to convince me she’s a regular, hands-on working mum. Fair play if so, because she hasn’t stopped since we began shooting eight hours ago.

When I arrived at Alba’s Beverly Hills mansion, it felt more like entering a Line Of Duty crime scene than a cover shoot, as I pulled on a pair of blue disposable shoe covers. She has a strict no-shoes policy in her house, so the entire 18-strong crew is wearing them.

Things are running behind schedule, so I’m first introduced to Alba in a brief moment between set-ups. Despite looking entirely the role of a cover girl in that moment, it doesn’t take more than a minute to remember her ever-present role of mom as she catches a glimpse of her children across the room. Competing with the cacophony of cartoons blasting from the TV, she sounds like many mothers. “Can you watch your brother? Can you turn it down? Can you take his elephant, please? Say, ‘Yes, Mom!’” It’s clear who the boss is around here.