Jessica Alba is the September cover girl for Lucky Magazine, in what I’m guessing was a photo shoot done eight months ago. I mean… Alba’s waist is super-tiny here, and in reality, I think Alba is due any minute. She didn’t even look this slim in January. The interview isn’t anything in-depth, and there weren’t any big eye-roll moments, like Alba will sometimes do, like the time when she said all great actresses ignore the script. Mostly, Alba just talks about her body, how much she hates working out, and how she loves a good girdle:

Post-partum girdle: “I wear a girdle around my tummy from the moment I give birth until it doesn’t feel loosely goosey anymore—that takes a good two to three months. It’s spandex with Velcro.”

No maternity clothes? “I generally don’t wear many maternity clothes…but I am wearing maternity pantyhose, because I can’t fit into the other ones.”

On trying not to be the perfect mom: “I get obsessed with how to make her life as perfect as I can—which means allowing her to make mistakes and act nuts,” she says.

On her meal plan to shape up after the baby: “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.”

On her post-baby workout: “Working out everyday for even just 45 minutes is good for my mental state. But getting dressed and actually doing it is the worst. It’s hard to get motivated.”

On why she likes to be distracted at the gym: “In the gym, I have like five things to distract me: TV, iPod, magazines. Working partners are good, too, so you can chat and not just drown in your own misery. Sorry, does that sound bad? I just hate working out.”

On being considered a sex symbol: “I’ve never been perceived as anything but a sex symbol, so I don’t even know what that means,” she says.

On suing Playboy from putting her on the cover without her permission: “Playboy isn’t bad; it’s just not me.”

On her sexy Campari calendar she shot wearing heels and a bathing suit: “It got people talking,” she says. “Besides, it’s not like my boobies were out or my bum was showing.”

On her career goal after the sexiness wears off: “I’ve kept my future in mind,” she says. “I wasn’t going to be a flash in the pan. I want my career to last a long time.”

On playing superheroes: “I pretended to be a superhero when I was a kid,” says Alba who plays a superhero mom in her upcoming movie Spy Kids. “I thought, if boys can do it, I can do it, I can do it better,” she says, laughing.

On being strong-willed: “There’s a video of me when I’m three, saying ‘This is a woman’s world, and I don’t need a man for nothin’!'” she says.

On her first big audition: “We all went out for it—my mom, my auntie, her four kids, my auntie’s boyfriend, my brother and I all sardined inside our Buick Regal. That’s how we rolled back then.” Once there, she was asked to list any acting experience. “I lied and said I done plays,” she says, smiling. “My mom definitely taught me how to hustle.”

On looking back at her journey as an actress: “Why am I here?” she asks. “Sheer will and determination, dammit…And I hustled like crazy.”

[From Starpulse & Lucky Mag]

I only rolled my eyes at “I’ve never been perceived as anything but a sex symbol, so I don’t even know what that means.” Granted, if she was trying to put herself out there as some big, quality actress, I would have rolled my eyes too, but surely there’s a happy medium. What is the right way to answer the “How does it feel to be a sex symbol?” question? I like when actresses at least make an effort to feign humility, like, “Oh, it’s great that people think that. I’m not really like that, though.”

As far as the dieting and exercising stuff – I feel like we’re going to spend the next three years reading even more interviews from Alba about getting the baby weight off, so just prepare yourselves. Is it weird that she wears a girdle? It just seems so… old-school, so 1950s.

Lucky Mag photos.