If she’s being honest, Jessica Alba could probably use a break.
But, as she’s cultivated her nearly billion-dollar business, The Honest Company, the 33-year-old finds release by returning to the sound stage that made her famous in films like Sin City and The Fantastic Four.
“It’s nice to have something that just doesn’t make any sense,” the actress told PEOPLE Friday while educating families on safe sleep environments with Honest and Baby2Baby at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
“Movies don’t make sense — playing a random character that is completely make-believe … mentally balances out all of that structure that I’m [still getting] used to in business.”
Even with her many ways to keep life manageable, Alba calls total balance “impossible.” She confesses, “I feel like I’m pulled in 20 different directions [at all times].”
Vanessa Preziose Photography
Between traveling, nurturing her earth-friendly baby product line and raising daughters Honor Marie, 6, and Haven Garner, 3, Alba admits, “It can be really long days. When I’m home after I’ve put the kids to bed I’m still going.”
She says with a laugh, “When you’re running a company there is no 9 to 5. It’s like a 24/7 [job].”
Alba also credits a strong support system, including friend Kelly Sawyer of Baby2Baby, for helping her keep her many hats on straight. “It really helps to have someone who has your back when we’re going through our own trials and tribulations,” she says.
Most important to Alba, though, is squeezing in time for her little girls. “[Being a mom is] my priority. I feel like they’re growing up too fast, and I want to freeze them in time,” she shares. “I don’t think that’s going to happen because every day they’re just getting taller and sometimes more sassy.”
But there is one thing that her youngest still isn’t willing to give up — and Alba is more than happy to indulge her.
“Oh my God, she loves her crib,” the actress says of daughter Haven. “She wants sleepovers because her sister has sleepovers so I try to do sleepovers with Mom. She says, ‘Okay Mommy, I’m done. I need to go back to my crib now.'”
Alba adds, “She’s so restless — she wants to talk so she’s super into her crib. It’s really cute and I’m like, ‘Yes, stay a baby forever.'”
– Reporting by Mariah Haas
