LONDON: Jessica Alba - who is married to Cash Warren and with whom she has two daughters Honor, four, and nine-month-old Haven - has never chosen her outfits to get the attention of guys and only chooses garments that make her feel good.

The actress, 31, said: "There are some women who dress for men. I dress for myself. It took me some time to get here. Being a mom and feeling grown-up have helped. Now if I'm going to wear something short, it has to have a high neck or a little sci-fi toughness to it, an edge.

"Now that I'm older, I've learned how to own it (my sexuality), but I'm still not very overt."

Jessica insists she felt pressurised to dress and act sexy when she got her first acting break in sci-fi TV series Dark Angel, which first hit TV screens in 2000.

The screen beauty struggled to cope with the preconceptions of her as an 'action girl' when she is demure and 'elegant' in real life.

In an interview with the new US issue of Marie Claire magazine, she explained: "I had a show that premiered when I was 19. And right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed. I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That's what people expected.

"(At premieres) I felt like I was being objectified, and it made me uncomfortable. I wanted to be chic and elegant!"