Jessica Alba says she's open about therapy with daughter Honor in an effort to 'destigmatize' it

Jessica Alba opened up about attending therapy sessions with her eldest daughter in an effort to ‘destigmatize’ the process and encourage others to try it.

The 40-year-old actress revealed over the summer that she and 13-year-old Honor, had been in therapy for the past two years so that they could learn to communicate and understand each other better.

Speaking to PEOPLE about why she chose to share intimate details of her family life, the Honest Company founder said: ‘I think it makes it less scary for others.’

Getting candid: The 40-year-old actress elaborated on the decision to speak about she and daughter Honor’s therapy journey in an effort to ‘destigmatize’ the conversation around healthy communication; pictured July 2021

The Fantastic Four star got candid about the therapy journey while promoting her new children’s book A Bear to Share. 

‘I think I’m just trying to destigmatize what that is,’ she shared, before elaborating on how it helps promote healthy family communication.

‘It really is “How can I show up as a mom for my kids and be the best parent for her?”…There really isn’t one sort of recipe that works across the board. I just wanted to be able to show up for her.’

She had previously divulged that the decision to get help stemmed from wanting to have a better relationship with her kids than she had with her own parents.  

Communication tools: Jessica  had revealed over the summer that she and 13-year-old Honor, had been in therapy for the past two years so that they could learn to communicate and understand each other better; pictured with Honor in 2020

Process: ‘I started going to therapy with her I think when she was 11,’ the Honest Company founder divulged, saying it stemmed from issues she wanted to tackle in her own childhood; pictured July 4 

Alba shares three children: daughters Honor, and Haven, 10, and son Hayes, three with husband Cash Warren — who she said has been a support system through it all as well as friends. 

‘Luckily, I have friends who have girls the same age. I think we’re all sort of going through all of this together,’ she shared.   

‘…So, that helps to have a community of support around you and friendships where we can have a dialogue about, “Hey, I’m kind of going through this and I’m kind of hitting a wall and how do I break through?” or “This is what I’m doing” and just being transparent and open about it.’  

Family: Alba shares three children: daughters Honor, and Haven, 10, and  son Hayes, three, with husband Cash Warren, who she said has been a support system through it all as well as friends; pictured April 28 

The L.A.’s Finest star had first spoken about mommy-daughter therapy on an episode of Katherine Schwarzenegger’s Before, During & After Baby podcast in July. 

‘With my 13-year-old, I’m struggling with not treating her like a little [kid] – I want to treat them all like babies…I want to baby them. Still, my tendency is to parent them as if they are little,’ she said of trying to adapt her parenting techniques.  

‘I started going to therapy with her [Honor] I think when she was 11. For me it was really out of, I felt like my relationship really suffered with my parents because they didn’t know how to communicate with me and how I needed to be parented.  

‘I didn’t want that breakdown with Honor so we went to therapy together,’ she revealed at the time, and maintained while chatting with PEOPLE that she hopes her candor on the subject ‘makes it less scary for others.’

Being better: ‘It was really out of, I felt like my relationship really suffered with my parents because they didn’t know how to communicate with me and how I needed to be parented,’ she confessed in July of trying to re-write her own narrative; pictured February 2020