Jessica Alba covers the May issue of Glamour to promote her book of lifestyle tips that may very well be more grounded than Gwyneth Paltrow’s, but the cover headline, “I set up my own business — and now I can help you!” is certainly sanctimonious enough for both of them combined. While Alba looks lovely as always (seriously, the girl can’t take a bad photo) on the cover, I assume that the headline is meant to convince us that if Alba can open her own company (the Honest Company, which sells environmentally-friendly household products) and enjoy almost immediate success, so can we. Of course, Alba also had her own celebrity that provided for many talk show and magazine appareances to discuss her brand before it even launched, so excuse me for laughing a bit when she thinks any of us could do the same in such a short period of time.

To a certain degree, I appreciate that Alba’s taken some time off acting to get her company going, but now she’s telling Glamour that she also pulled away from acting so that she could concentrate upon parenthood. She also says that she won’t do just any film that comes along now — it’s gotta be a really meaty character for her to justify stepping away from her daughters and husband, Cash Warren. Hmm, really?

She only wants to work in good films now: “When you have kids, you kind of think, I don’t need to work just to work. I want to sink my teeth into a character that makes it worth not being with my kids, or not being at the office. Having kids, having strong relationships with my husband, my friends, that it is my priority… that’s what really defines me, not a tabloid or a movie opening or a poster or an endorsement.”

On the Honest Company: “I am not approaching it like an actress, I’m approaching it like a mum, and I just want the best for my family and I feel like all mums do. You can’t really argue with that.”

Is she an actress or business woman now? “I am both… As you are building your career you make certain choices, and I didn’t know how to not work, and I didn’t know how to discern what I wanted to do or not do. I was just like, bring it.”

Her multitasking idol is Eleanor Roosevelt: “The perseverance she had made the world a better place for women, for the civil rights movement, just all the things that she did for veterans, teachers. She was one woman who dreamt big and didn’t take no for an answer.”

[From Glamour]

My god, Alba still doesn’t understand why she’s no longer in demand as an actress. Remember how she blamed her directors and screenwriters for her own awful performances? Well, she’s still in that state of mind. Alba needs to look inward and realize that the only director who really offers her roles anymore is Robert Rodriguez, and she’s appeared in four of his movies (Spy Kids 4, Machete, Machete Kills, and the upcoming Sin City 2) in the past few years alone. As much as I have enjoyed some of Robbie Rod’s earlier movies, the man isn’t exactly one to feature high quality acting in his films. Oh well.

As much as Alba appears to detest the tabloids, she did make it into this week’s issue of Star, which publishes a story about how Cash is driving Jessica crazy because he “sits in front of the TV, watching sports, and hosts parties for his friends while Jessica is running around like a mad woman. She is fed up wih him living off the money she makes.” In a previous Alba story, I noted that Cash hasn’t worked in his offical capacity as a film producer in over three years, so perhaps Star’s story isn’t entirely off the mark. Some of you noted that Cash has some family money, although I’m sure Jessica can’t be thrilled if she’s truly the only one running around like crazy only to have him loafing on the couch, but who knows.

Here are some photos of Jessica and Cash in St. Barts together on Wednesday.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN