Jessica Alba:

Despite rocketing to fame on TV's Dark Angel and snagging a starring role in the film Fantastic Four, Jessica Alba says she still feels like a Hollywood outsider. Here, she talks about secrets to that amazing body, growing up multiracial, the naughty pictures she hopes you won't see and the things in life she absolutely can't live without

By Dennis Hensley

The first thing Jessica Alba mentions when I hand her a camera? Naughty pictures. I'm talking to her about Things She Can't Live Without (TSCLW), and already the conversation has surprised me. Turns out, the camera I've handed Alba looks familiar to her. "I had the same one," she says, snapping the view from the balcony of her French villa-style house in the hills above L.A., one of her TSCLW. "I just lost it ‑- which is why I'm so happy I had deleted the naughty pictures." What was that? "Not that naughty," she says with a laugh. Were the pictures of her and another person? "My boyfriend," she reveals. Alba has been dating Cash Warren, a director of development at a production company, whom she met while shooting her latest film, Fantastic Four. And with that, Alba takes a picture of herself wearing the gold and diamond hoop earrings Warren gave her for her 24th birthday in April. "I'm bad at smiling because I always feel cheesy," she admits. I look closely at the earrings, which seem as if they were made for Alba's delicate ears. "Cash knows me very well ‑- every day, I find an excuse to wear them."

Next, Alba leads the way to her bedroom and runs her hand along a wall of books. "This is actually the most exciting part of the room for me," she says, scanning the titles. "It's great having a bookcase here. I love to read; I just don't always have a lot of time to do it." Her spacious bedroom is bathed in creamy tones, but it's hard to see what else is in there on account of all the clothing racks. Alba apologizes for the mess, some of which she'll pack up for her trip to the Cannes Film Festival, and we head to the master bath. "That's probably the most decadent thing I own," she says, pointing to her "big-ass" bathtub, which seats at least two and has a flat-screen TV mounted above it. "I take a bath almost every day. Because I work out so hard, I usually put in a gallon of Epsom salts." Given Alba's incredible shape, I wonder if she's one of those people who lives to work out. "It's such a pain in the ass," she groans. "Running is suffering, I don't care what anybody says. But it always makes me feel good afterward." Clearly, this bathroom is Alba's retreat. "I like to light my Joya vanilla candles that smell like cupcakes." So how long is she likely to soak for? "Cash and I took a two-and-a-half-hour bath the other day while we watched TV," she says, giggling at the memory. "It's a really romantic spot."

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