Jessica Alba became a star before she could legally order a drink. At 19, she carried Fox’s Dark Angel on her back, flipping motorcycles and throwing punches as Max Guevara while most teens were figuring out rent. That was October 2000. The pilot alone cost $10 million. Risky move. It worked. Alba earned a Golden Globe nomination, a leather-clad pop culture legacy, and a fast pass into Hollywood’s inner circle.
Twenty-five years later, the wild part isn’t that people still talk about Dark Angel. It’s that Alba, now in her 40s, still looks like she could step back into that role tomorrow. Great genes help, sure. Discipline does more. She’s open about hydration being non-negotiable. “Hydration is where it’s at when it comes to my skincare routine,” she told E! News, explaining how she layers moisturizers when seasons shift.
She’s just as direct about confidence. “I understand what feeling powerful from a woman’s point of view means,” she told The Cut. “It has nothing to do with whether someone desires you.” That mindset shows up everywhere. Red carpets. Instagram. Even a fresh tattoo she revealed on February 26, weeks after filing for divorce from Cash Warren. The ink reads, “Life is transformation is life.”
Alba met Warren on the set of Fantastic Four in 2004. He was a director’s assistant. They married in 2008 and raised three kids together: Honor, now 16, Haven, 13, and Hayes, 7. She filed for divorce in February 2025, making it clear the priority hasn’t shifted. “We are moving forward with love, kindness and respect for each other and will forever be family,” she wrote.
If acting made her famous, business earned her respect. She co-founded The Honest Company in 2011 after a rash during her first pregnancy sent her searching for safer products. People didn’t take her seriously. “People just saw me as a girl in a bikini in movies kicking butts,” she said at Forbes’ Women’s Summit. Pushback sharpened her focus. “I needed people telling me no.”
She still hasn’t ruled out a Dark Angel return either. Asked if she’d give it another go, Alba didn’t dodge it. “If [James Cameron] wanted to do Dark Angel, I would do Dark Angel again.”
It’s been 25 years, but Jessica Alba is just as beautiful as she’s ever been, and now she’s got receipts for everything else you didn’t think she was capable of.
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