Jessica Alba is all over the place promoting her new line of organic baby care products, called The Honest Company. Their model is a kind of monthly “personal shopper” experience for biodegradable diapers and home care products like laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. It costs $79.95 a month for the “diaper bundle,” $35.95 for “family essentials,” and $115.90 for both. The amount of diapers you get depends on the size of your baby, and the price doesn’t sound exorbitant for that type of product. I guess Alba has to find another way to supplement her income now that her career in B movies is on the wane. It seems like she really cares about making products that are both safe for babies and good for the environment, I’ll give her that.

Anyway in a new interview on CNN’s HLN, (video below) Alba admits that she earned good money for the first photos of her daughter Honor, now three and a half, and that she banked it for Honor’s future. She didn’t reveal the exact amount she was paid, but reports have it at $1.5 million. Alba had her second baby, daughter Haven, about five months ago. I doubt she got paid anything for Haven’s photos, but I could be wrong.

Alba, who is mom to daughters Honor and Haven, told CNN she thinks Beyonce and Jay-Z should take control of the public’s thirst for the first glimpse of baby Blue and sell the photos.

The 30-year-old actress and husband Cash Warren made the decision to sell the first photos of Honor to OK! magazine for a reported $1.5 million.

“For our family, we just wanted to control the experience. We put the money that the picture made into a bank account for Honor to do whatever she wants to do with,” she explained. “It’s her picture, it’s her birth, and we didn’t want it to be like a weird thing when we were walking out of the house with her for the first time.”

Alba believes that selling the first photos will stop the paparazzi from going to dangerous lengths to nab the first look at a celebrity’s offspring.

“If there’s a price tag on your child — which is so bizarre — people will go to crazy lengths. We wanted to avoid the hysteria,” she said, adding that they had a great experience with OK! magazine using a photographer they were friends with.

[From Huffington Post]

At least she’s honest about the fact that she saved the baby photo money, unlike Jennifer Lopez who kept a reported $6 million for the first photos of her twins and didn’t say a peep about it. Alba is talking about the climate three and a half years ago for celebrity baby photos, though. The amount that celebrities can make for baby photos has gone significantly down since, and the trend is just to release a photo to the press in order to control the paparazzi, not to try and negotiate for the highest amount of money. Unless the money is going to charity, it seems gauche to get paid for baby photos. I love how at the end of this clip Alba says “You can just give the money to charity and to your baby and that’s it,” as if her baby is a charity. As for her advice to Beyonce, which was solicited by the interviewer and not just volunteered, I doubt we’ll be seeing photos of Blue Ivy for some time and I’ll leave it at that.

Jessica Alba and Honor are shown out on 1-10-12. Honor is a little star. Credit: R2D2/FameFlynet Pictures. She’s also shown with Cash at Van Nuys Airport on 1-20-12 and at the Weinstein Company’s 2012 Golden Globe party on 1-15-12. Credit: WENN.com

One of the things I noticed last night while watching the Globes was just how pulled and frozen everyone looked. It was hard not to see that just about every woman’s face was messed with, some noticeably more than others. So here we have Julianna Margulies, who has natural looking lines but still she looks very Botoxy to me. She’s been that way for a while though. I’m not a fan of her shiny tight purple Naeem Khan gown. I don’t like the very plain, formfitting style of the dress. Coupled with her tightly pulled back hair, it’s too sleek a look. Those green statement earrings are hot, and I do like the open back of the dress.

Jessica Alba wore a lighter shade of purple in studded sequin Gucci. She looks so fresh and glossy in photos, although her spray tan was very obvious looking on camera. I love the style of the dress, especially the bustline, the fitted waist and the slight delicate tail, but something about the pattern is off to me. While the dress was a little strange, overall this look was a win for Jessica.

Laura Linney made me a little sad last night. I love her and I wanted to see her well styled, but her makeup was just so bad. Someone rimmed the membranes of her eyes with dark black liner, making her look squinty, and then slapped some purple eyeshadow on her like a teenager trying out some sparkly Wet and Wild before the Junior prom. It’s so wrong. Her J. Mendel dress was theoretically amazing. I like the modern style and find the slight fold over the asymmetric neckline so clever. Coupled with her styling though, the dress just didn’t pop for her. Those star earrings are from Fragments and they’re cute, but they’re not bold enough for the red carpet. Laura was up for best Actress in a TV Comedy Series, which went to Laura Dern.

Jessica Alba’s red carpet style is usually hit or miss. Here we have a miss in a bizarre leather and chiffon Valentino dress. I really dislike both the striated ruffle skirt and the strange lace pattern around the wrists. I thought she had a tattoo there above her hand when I saw the smaller versions of these photos. She’s also carrying a Valentino clutch that looks more like a studded formal envelope it’s so large. We just saw Alba in a bikini so we know she can wear just about any style, why this? I’ll say something nice, I really like her hair and makeup. She looks effortlessly pretty and perfectly made up.

Alba was at an InStyle event leading up to the Golden Globes. Also there we have the lovely Nina Dobrev of Vampire Diaries. Whenever I see Nina I remember her amazing red dress at the Emmy Awards. She was in a pale peach and pink knee-length gown paired with a bright pink clutch. I like everything about this look except for the shoes. The color is off somehow, but still this is gorgeous.

Busy Phillips played it safe in a very plain black dress with a see-through neckline and t-strap heels. Her hair is looking a little beat, although I like that new color on her. I can’t nitpick Busy. She always looks so damn happy to be wherever she is that she’s become one of my favorites.

Just yesterday we saw American Horror Story’s Alexandra Breckenridge looking a little trashy in a too-tight too-short backless dress that looked more club wear than something you would bring to the red carpet. She was a little more demure last night, but the pattern on that dress is just overwhelmingly busy and fug. If you look closely, you can see the circles around her boobs and the triangle at her lady parts. Classy.

Photo credit: Debbie VanStory/ iPhotoLivecom/WENN.com, Brian To/WENN.com, Apega/WENN.com

The last movie I saw Jessica Alba in (and sadly, Joel McHale) was the interminable Spy Kids 4D. It was so bad that we actually left the theater less than an hour in. That was the only movie Alba was in last year, which is understandable since she was pregnant. According to IMDB, she has nothing lined up except for a voice role. So she’s got to hustle if she wants to regain her career in very bad adult films instead of just very bad kids films.

So here is Jessica Alba, who is constantly getting papped in LA, conveniently being photographed hard-bodied while on vacation with her family in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Alba had her second daughter, Haven, with her husband Cash Warren just four and a half months ago and you could never tell. Look at how perfectly posed she is in this photo above. At least she arranged for the photographer to be sufficiently far away.

This woman in the background must be Alba’s nanny, She’s admitted to having one, and I like that she’s letting the help be in the frame while she’s posing her little butt off.

Alba revealed her weight loss plan to Lucky prior to giving birth. She said “I have a hard time with portion control, so I have 1,200 calorie meals delivered. But I also work out, so basically I’m starving—it sucks. I drink a lot of water.” It looks like she didn’t have too much trouble sticking to it.

Photo credit: Fame Pictures

Jessica Alba covers the January issue of InStyle magazine to promote something other than her usual brand of crappy romantic comedy film. Wait, that sounded worse than I intended, but really! Jessica’s taking some time off from Hollywood after having her second daughter, Haven Garner, and she’s using this down period to launch a new company of environmentally-friendly baby and household products. While the InStyle cover shoot is just fine (yet not remarkable), the interview reveals a slightly different side of Alba than we’re used to; that is, she doesn’t sound entirely vapid and self-absorbed while discussing her new business. Also, she doesn’t really say anything childbirth related that would gross out poor Kaiser, so that’s a plus too:

On Her New Business Venture: “It’s an eco household-and-baby consumer product line,” she explains proudly of The Honest Company, a web-based enterprise situated here in Santa Monica. Set to launch this month, it will be marketed with the tag line: “honest baby products for the next generation.”

“Our core item will be diapers,” says Alba, adding that the idea behind the brand came when she was pregnant with Honor. “We also have household cleaning products and bodycare products.” Alba is quick to stress that the range of environmentally-friendly items, to be available through the site thehonestcompany.com, will be “accessible and affordable. If something is healthy and non-toxic, it is usually at a premium price point. We aren’t going to be the cheapest, but certainly not the most expensive.”

It’s Not A Vanity Project: “When I started to talk about doing something with consumer products, a lot of people were like, ‘Huh? Why not fashion or bags like most actresses?’ But this is what I am passionate about; it affects the health of not only my children, but all children.”

On Her Pregnancy Style: “I didn’t want to feel frumpy. I still wanted to feel beautiful, elegant, chic and playful-if I could. Especially because you feel so sick, hot, achey, swollen and all of those wonderful things that come with being pregnant.”

On Losing Weight Again: “[When I was pregnant] with Honor, I didn’t make the healthiest choices when it came to eating. All of a sudden, I had gained over [30 kilos]. I stopped weighing myself after that. With Haven I didn’t gain as much, so [afterward] I was closer to where I felt comfortable in my own skin.” She also works out with a personal trainer three times a week, often alongside Cash. “It’s fun and another way we get to spend time together.”

Even With A Nanny, Mothering Is Hard: “It’s overwhelming. I don’t consider myself a lot of the time. I think a lot of mums do that, try to be everything to everyone all the time. I make mistakes. I do try to do way too much.”

On How A 2nd Child Is Different: “I’m more relaxed. Every sneeze or runny nose or little bump on the head that would have freaked me out before…I am more easygoing with that sort of thing. And the sense of knowing that I can get Haven to stop crying. It was all new with Honor and I wasn’t confident, and she could feel that so she continued to cry. That didn’t happen a lot, but when it happened I felt like I would crack.”

On Cash Warren As A Dad: “He’s totally great and a real hands-on dad. He’s just such a nice, good person…His biggest thing is that he doesn’t like the idea of them growing up and dating! He’s kidding, but I can tell he’s kind of thinking of the future already.”

[From InStyle]

Okay, so the nanny thing coupled with “mothering is hard” sentiment won’t win Jessica any new fans, but I’m slightly impressed that she’s considering her career options outside of acting. Honestly, I didn’t know that she had it in her. Also, it’s nice to see that she and Cash are still going strong. Still, I wonder if there was ever any truth to the rumor that he made out with Lindsay Lohan in a nightclub a few years ago? God forbid.

From what I can tell (and there isn’t much to go from), this InStyle photoshoot is pretty airbrushed up, which is only to be expected. Jessica looks good though.

Here are some photos of Jessica and Cash out with Haven on 12/4 for a bit of grocery shopping.

Photos courtesy of InStyle and Fame

I can’t believe it’s that time of year already. I feel like Christmas is breathing down the back of my neck with demands to clean, cook and shop. There’s a lot of stress associated with Christmas, but it’s also a pretty special time. I love experiencing it now through the eyes of my seven year-old son. He gets so excited about Christmas!

Anyway Jessica Alba and Jennifer Hudson were the paid celebrity guests at the “The Swarovski Elements Lighting Ceremony” on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills yesterday. I’m putting that in quotes, because before I saw the photos I thought it was a lighting ceremony for an actual Christmas tree, but it’s more like the lighting of a DNA helix on its side. They should have thrown a real tree in there to make it look more festive. As it is, it’s kind of sterile and not really in the holiday spirit.

Both Alba and Hudson looked the part in crisp white outfits. Alba wore this white Carolina Herrera A-line dress, which I love. I could do without the wavy black belt, which is a feature of the dress, but still it’s so cute. It’s perfect for a holiday event. The snakeskin shoes are kind of strange with it, and I don’t like her raccoon-like makeup, but overall it’s a great look for her.

Jennifer Hudson also looks good here, and I like the combination of that hot pink dress with the white coat. Her lipstick color matches her dress perfectly. The dress is a little short and those booties have got to go, but that gorgeous coat looks so elegant. That coat is killer! I want it, but I know I would get that thing dirty within an hour. Redcarpet-fashion awards points out that it’s Versace, and they linked to a shopping site where you can buy it – for about $5,000. I’m hoping Hudson had it comped, she probably did.

Also, doesn’t Hudson look a little Botoxy here? It could be due to her eye makeup, but her eyes are looking turned up to me. I really like her makeup though.

Speaking of getting stuff comped, look at how thrilled they are to get new iPads engraved with Swarovski Elements on the back. Lucky bitches. They probably got paid well over $10k just to show up too. Evil Beet has an article today that I found alternately infuriating and fascinating. It’s all about how much celebrities get paid for stuff. They can be paid $10,000 and up just to wear certain clothing labels, which are of course provided to them free of charge. Nice work if you can get it.

Alba and her husband Cash look like brother and sister, don’t they?

Photo credit: Fame Pictures

I think these are the last batch of photos I’ll be doing from the Glamour Magazine Women of the Year event. Mostly, I want to cover these pics because I absolutely HATE Jessica Alba’s Tory Burch dress. This is the kind of dress I expect on a young child – like, Suri Cruise would rock this dress. Kiernan Shipka would rock this dress, and she would be adorable in it. A 30-something self-proclaimed Fashion Girl? Nope. But! I like her makeup and her hair – although the hair is not right for a formal dinner. But her face looks beautiful, and look! SHE’S SMILING.

Incidentally, regarding Alba – Star Magazine had a small little blurb in this past week’s issue claiming that Alba and Cash Warren are having serious problems and that having little Haven didn’t help their relationship at all. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’ve always thought Cash was so skeevy, so whatever.

Next fashion girl: Kerry Washington in yellow Marchesa. I keep wondering about Kerry, actually, whenever I see a new photo of her. For a while there, girl was looking rough, like she had gotten some wonky face work done and nothing had settled. Maybe it was weight loss, or maybe she had just gotten some cheap nip-tuck, I don’t know. But she actually looks rather nice here – I’m not a huge fan of yellow, and I’m not a huge fan of Marchesa’s cheap showgirl looks, but this is okay on her.

And lastly, Laura Bush and her daughters – I like that they all wore bold colors. Those girls adore their mom.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Gwen Stefani was decked out as Cinderella for a party at Kate Hudson’s house over the weekend. She looks like a little girl playing dress up, complete with heavily applied blue eyeshadow, bright pink blush and pink lips. I have to give her credit for taking the look as far as she did, with stacks of necklaces, an updo with a tiara and a feather purse. She really went all out and she’s not hanging out of that outfit too much either. Bitch loves her makeup though, and she put it on with a trowel here.

Here’s Zooey Deschanel barely trying. At first I thought she was Duchess Kate in that outfit, but her hair is all teased out and she’s carrying that fake martini. Radar is claiming she’s “dressed as a woman from the 60s.” Hopefully she had someone specific in mind. This looks like one of those “group costumes” where everyone dresses up around some loosely formed theme and it’s hard to tell exactly who they’re supposed to be unless you see all of them together. They look like they’re having a bachelorette party. (Update: Thanks to those of you who pointed out that they’re supposed to be Valley of The Dolls characters!)

Nicky Hilton was little Red Riding Hood. That was boring when Kim Kardashian did it last year. This is how you do Red Riding Hood.

David Spade is… a cowboy who fell in some manure?

Casey Affleck was a hunter. At least he dressed up.

Topher Grace either didn’t bother or has a really weak ass costume.

Jessica Alba was a sexy witch. Such a mom costume. Throw on a hat and a wig. It looks like she has a veil with some spiders on it, and she probably tried harder than I’m giving her credit for.

Gwen Stefani owns them all and she knows it. I wonder who her friend is in the hair band costume.

Photo credit: Fame Pictures

I’m one of those people who gets very squeamish and grossed out when someone launches into a tale of medical drama. I can handle and all kinds of fictionalized violence (thus, my love of crime stories and cop shows), but whenever someone starts talking about broken bone this or distended uterus that, I need to take a deep breath and think about kittens. Example: I was waiting at the mechanic’s, and I was listening to this woman’s one-sided conversation on the phone. She was going on and on about how her friend had broken her leg in four places. I got so nauseous, I had to leave the room. It was like I can actually FEEL these ailments, and I swear that my own leg felt broken for a good 15 minutes.

So, you can just imagine how I am about women describing their birth stories. I can just do without them, honestly. I don’t begrudge you your birth stories, and I’m sure you’re all very brave and strong and wonderful but SHUTUP. Whatever you describe, I can FEEL it. So, with that introduction, here’s Jessica Alba’s story about the birth of her second child, Haven Garner:

THERE is often a brief spell of domestic chaos following a new arrival, but when Jessica Alba and Cash Warren invite us into their LA home, we’re greeted by a scene of near zen-like calm. Here the couple introduce six-week-old Haven Garner Warren, younger sister to daughter Honor (3).

And Jessica Alba and Cash – who met eight years ago on the set of Fantastic Four – chat to us about Haven’s unusual birth, living in a female-dominated household, and keeping their romance alive.

“When Haven was born, I fell in love all over again,” says Cash. “It’s the most incredible experience.”

“Love at first sight,” says Jessica. “It did take a couple of days for it to sink in that I have another baby!”

And while Cash loves his burgeoning family of girls, the situation does have one slight downside.

“There are lots of strong women around,” says Jessica. “If there’s any discussion, Cash doesn’t win. Girls have the majority vote here!”

She told OK! magazine: “When I delivered Haven she was born still inside the amniotic sac, which is rare. The doctor grabbed the nurse and said: ‘Look at this!’ I was in the middle of pushing and he told me to hold on a minute and not to push! He was wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt and said: ‘Oh I have to get my scrubs on for this!’ The sac burst on its own after she came out. It was a trip.”

“When I was in recovery we still hadn’t chosen her name. Cash picked her up and said she came into the world in her ‘safe haven’ and it clicked right then for both of us.”

[From OK! UK]

OMG. O.M.G. The baby in the amniotic sac! Surprisingly enough, this is not even close to the grossest or most uncomfortable birth story I’ve ever been assaulted with. Please don’t even start. But… you know what I think the funkiest part of the story is? “He was wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt and said: ‘Oh I have to get my scrubs on for this!’” DUDE. Put your scrubs on before the baby comes out in its own amniotic sac, for the love of God.

Photos courtesy of WENN and OK! Magazine UK.

As CB reported yesterday, Jessica Alba has finally given birth to her second daughter, which means that she’s already slapped on that girdle (the fact of which probably gets Taylor Lautner hot) and is preparing to tell us all (again) about how hard it is to lose the baby weight. First, however, Alba’s going to send us a few mixed signals with a recent interview within which she inconsisently claims that she’s really in no hurry to get back to her pre-pregnancy bod. Also, she sort of believes in reincarnation:

Jessica Alba has revealed that she wouldn’t be surprised if she knew her husband Cash Warren in a past life.

The Little Fockers actress, who gave birth to her second child on Saturday, explained that she felt instantly comfortable around the actor when they met.

Asked whether she is open to the idea of reincarnation, Alba replied to Style: “I’m not closed to that possibility. I definitely felt like I knew my husband when I met him. It was an instant comfort when I met him. I felt like we were family.”

While the couple didn’t plan to have their 3-year-old daughter Honor Marie, the 30-year-old star explained that it has brought them even closer.

“It just happened and we were like, ‘OK, let’s do this’. It’s made our bond deeper. It’s creating a life that you created with someone else that makes everything more solid,” she said.

Alba also insisted that she is in no rush to return to her pre-baby body because she is at ease with the way she looks.

“I’m much happier with my body than I’ve ever been,” she explained. “It’s different, but it’s fine. I had a different association with my body and what perfection was when I was younger.”

[From Digital Spy]

Alba is so wacky. To be clear, I’m not knocking reincarnation at all but more like Alba’s idea of it. In her words, the idea is all very romantic and only serves the purpose of explaining why she felt so instantly comfortable with her husband. It’s a very superficial way of approaching what many believe is a very spiritual topic; of course, Alba waxing rhapsodic about reincarnation is much preferable to witnessing Alba’s complaints about how directors are to blame for her own substandard performances, how Hollywood doesn’t take her seriously because of her racial ambiguity, and how screenwriters are basically useless to great actors, right? Unfortunately, I have the feeling that Alba will soon return to attempting to justify her less than impressive run as an actress, so I’ll take her flighty ideas about reincarnation over her usual topics of conversation anyday.

Also, how exactly did Alba stay comfortable wearing such high heels during late pregancy? Ouch.

Photos courtesy of Fame