Jessica Alba is willing to do whatever it takes to fix her relationship with her children — even if it means attending joint therapy sessions to talk out their problems!
In an interview with Real Simple on Tuesday, the 42-year-old actress opened up about her experience with therapy, including sessions she went to with her eldest daughter during a rough patch between them. Jessica recalled she was constantly fighting with Honor Warren, 15, about minor things when she was still a tween:
“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.”
Oof. Jessica wanted a professional to help them sort out their issues, so she and Honor turned to therapy:
“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 talk about everything that gets on your nerves that I do.’”
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We love how open and honest Jessica allowed her to be! And it wasn’t long before the Honey star and her daughter began to see their therapy sessions worked for them. She shared that it “put me in check.” Not only that, their joint sessions helped her daughter see her side of things, too:
“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.”
While therapy was a success for Jessica and Honor, she made it clear that “it’s a process and I’m not perfect.” But at the end of the day, the Honest Company founder recognizes how therapy is “such a valuable tool to help you process your feelings,” adding:
“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.”
There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, no matter the reason! It’s so great Jessica is such an advocate for therapy and is vulnerable about her own experiences with it! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Jessica Alba/Instagram, The Kelly Clarkson Show/YouTube]
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