Jessica Alba says she used to be excessively shy growing up and had trouble speaking up her mind – especially when it came to boys. As a result, the star found it difficult to find a boyfriend until the age of 18.

She shared with Allure magazine: “I would tell my younger self you are smarter than you think you are. I always felt like because I didn’t go to college, I wasn’t smart. That’s not the case. I wouldn’t be so hard on myself about being accepted [by others].”

Alba also admits she spent too much time caring about what other people thought of her, leading to a more sheltered life away from guys.

“I cared so much about everyone liking me. If I could just spend a little less time thinking about what other people thought, I think that would’ve freed me up [to focus on myself]. I also thought a lot about boys even though I was so shy and never really had a boyfriend until I was 18. I would like to tell myself to be a little more brave or courageous if I liked someone.”

Meanwhile, the Machete actress recently revealed she considered herself “dumb” over her decision to skip a college education.

“I thought I was dumb because I didn’t go to college. I felt if you didn’t have a degree you’d never be respected or considered intelligent. Now I realise I’m perfectly capable of doing lots of things,” she admitted.

Alba was also afraid of speaking up about the controversies surrounding the entertainment industry, mainly being objectified as an actress.

She added: “Success in entertainment used to be purely financial for me. Once I was in my mid-20s and had achieved some degree of security, I started looking for something more substantive to focus on. Then when I got pregnant a few years later, I came up with the idea for my company.

When I was young I didn’t know how to speak up [at work] and say, ‘I don’t like this.’ I wasn’t that person [a sex symbol] people were portraying me as.”