Jessica Alba is getting honest about how therapy has changed hr life.
The 42-year-old actress says that she started going to therapy with her 15-year-old daughter Honor about four years ago.
“I think it creates a more compassionate container for people to live inside, and I think it can allow for more conversation where there are misunderstandings or misalignments,” Jessica told Real Simple. “I go to therapy so I can be kinder toward people I don’t always agree with, because I want to be happy. I still want to coexist, and I don’t want to live angry, irritated, or upset with people who don’t think like me. I want to be able to live in harmony with all.”
Jessica talked about how therapy with her daughters started.
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“Honor was probably 11, and we were arguing all the time about dumb stuff. And I was like, I don’t want to live like this. This is not fun. I didn’t want us to have a wedge between us. As her mother, when I say something, she’s going to hear it as an argument or as me trying to control her. I wanted there to be someone who could explain things in a way I couldn’t. What I said to Honor was, ‘I want to be a better parent to you, and this is your forum to basically talk about everything that gets on your nerves that I do,’” Jessica said.
Jessica says that the therapy helped.
“It put me in check,” she said. “Like, ‘Yeah, I totally do that. And I’m sorry. I’m going to work on that.’ It gave her a little bit of perspective too—that I’m not the bad guy; I’m just being a parent. She’ll come out the other side of it, and I’ll still be here. I just wanted to get to that point, and it worked. And the therapist allowed me to see that it’s natural for kids to disagree with their parents, and as a parent it’s not always about being right or rational in that moment. I’m not gonna front, it’s a process and I’m not perfect.”
Jessica added, “It’s such a valuable tool to help you process your feelings. It’s what this issue is about! Therapy gets you talking about what’s going on with you and unearths the things that aren’t feeling the best or might be confusing, or things that make you happy. And just unpacking it allows you to process it, and then you can repeat good behavior and find the behaviors you want to redirect. What a great tool for anybody.”
Check out a recent photo that Jessica shared of her daughters looking grown up on their first day of school for the 2023-24 school year.
