Even at her advanced stage of pregnancy, Latina beauty, Jessica Alba, 30, is arguably one of the world’s sexiest women.  Genetically blessed with an exquisite face and flawless caramel-hued skin, these gifts are often accompanied by certain prejudices.  Unfairly, it’s easy to assume she’s lived a charmed life.  Arguably, that may be the case of her adult years, however, it wasn’t always so.

Here in Los Angeles, she’s in a Ritz Carlton hotel suite to promote her latest movie, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World in 4D.

These days, Alba is a happily married woman of three years to agent, Cash Warren, with whom she is raising their 3-year-old daughter, Honor.

Like most new mothers, her child, and the other one who’s yet to arrive, has taken centre stage.  Her life pre-motherhood and marriage looked very different.  Back then, such career concerns as securing the next A-list role, or attending red carpet events in the latest couture outfit, took up the bulk of her time.  Now, at this most profound and enjoyable stage of her life as mother and wife, it’s also the most natural role she’s taken on.

“I’ve always been very maternal. I’m the oldest of 14 cousins and I was basically taking care of them, changing diapers, doing everything since I was five,” she explains.

Now that she’s experiencing the joys of parenthood, the accompanying fears and protective instincts have also kicked in.

Like many of us, Alba endured turbulent-filled years through her adolescence, and found herself the victim of teenage bullying.  While discussing the tragic events of Megan Meier and the mission statement that inspired Sweeten Your Words, I’m reminded of a time when we met several years ago, on the Bahamas set of Into the Blue.

She said then, recalling those years; “I had my fair share of bullying.  A lot happened to me after I began acting. I went back to school after my first role, it was a movie called Camp Nowhere.  All of a sudden my friends weren’t my friends any more. They all started me calling me ‘Bitch’ and ‘Slut’ and they all thought I was going after their boyfriends. I was getting threatened and beaten up every day by these different groups of girls - the black girls, the Latin girls, the poor white girls, the rich white girls. It was such a mess. I even had to have someone escort me from class to class. But when you’ve got seven girls surrounding you and they’re all pulling your backpack off your shoulders and kicking you, how are you supposed to win that fight? You can’t.  But in hindsight, I know it made me tougher.”

Although much has changed in the world of Alba, sadly, the pervasive subject of bullying, has only gotten worse.  The catalyst for such insidious attacks on random teenagers, (usually young girls), is of course, the internet’s social networks.  Notably, cowardly attacks from those behind the safety of their computer screens have become the norm in our society.  A subject close to her heart, particularly now that she’s a mother, Alba has some sound advice on how she’ll navigate those wars when they arise for her children.

“These days, I know everyone’s on Facebook, and I know everyone communicates that way but if it’s going to be hurtful and if people are going to be cruel to you, and you have to see them every day, maybe just don’t go on Facebook,” she says.

“Unfortunately, if bullying is something that’s going to happen, it’s inevitable, and you have to learn not participate in it.  Do other things, other hobbies. Find other things to be interested in.

“Kids need to realise that ninety-nine percent of the time it’s the insecurities of these people putting it onto you and these attacks has nothing to do with the victim, personally.  For me, it was that way.  Those kinds of people will do anything to anyone. They wanted to torture me for a long time for whatever reason,” she says.

“Bullying doesn’t just end at school with a click because people can communicate online, but when you’re not at school it can also be a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind. The more you can kind of distance yourself from it and try and rise above it, the better.”

Sound advice it may be, but as a parent, it’s not always possible to have control?

“No but as a parent, you could also be involved in what your kid is participating in.  If your kid is under 18 and living under your roof, you have a right to know what they’re doing and to be in their business,” she says.

In contrast, what has become customary with regards to raising children by today’s standards, Alba is no pushover when it comes to her Honor. She’s adopted similar family values from her own childhood which she’s described as ‘a traditional, Catholic, Latin American family.’

“I’m going to be a nosy parent and I’ll be in my childrens’ business. I’ll want their passwords to their accounts or they don’t get to have accounts.  It’s kind of a tough love thing but at the end of the day if you can be involved and talk with them and try to keep as much communication as possible about it, then the kid isn’t going through it alone,” she says, matter-of-factly.

Interestingly, despite her international sex symbol status, she’s refreshingly old-fashioned and modest, maintaining a no-nudity clause in all her movies, and uses a body double when necessary.

“I’m a strict mother.  And right now Honor is only three years old.  She’s free to do a lot of things and at the moment we’re focused on respect and appropriate behaviour in how you talk to people.  Manners are really important and that’s what we’re building on.”

Born in California, Alba’s family relocated often due to her father’s career in the airforce.  Her mother is of Danish and French Canadian descent and her father is Mexican American which perhaps explains her unusual and exotic features.  She’s graced the covers of many international magazines and frequently sits atop the world’s ‘Hot’ lists.

“I’m just not comfortable with nudity or sex scenes, so I don’t do it,” she says.

“Spy Kids is the first time Honor has been able to see a movie I’ve done which is the main reason I did it,” she smiles.  Her other movies, which include Sin City, Machete, The Eye, and The Love Guru, are not what you’d consider family fare for the under 10 set.

In Spy Kids 4, Alba plays a frazzled step mother.  She stars opposite Joel McHale (The Soup, Community) and Jeremy Piven (Entourage), along with original cast members: Alexa Vega, and Daryl Sabara.

In real life, Alba appears as though she’s handled the juggling act of motherhood and career with relative ease.

“Well, it’s hard. Sometimes it feels impossible but you just have to roll with the punches, especially if you bring your kid to work because you don’t have a sitter or someone to watch them. They’re going to act out, they’re probably going to be cranky and hungry and do all these things when you’re on that important phone call or you’re in that meeting,” she says. “It’s usually at that moment that they’re just going to lose their mind. That’s just kids. It’s funny, and dealing with it is part of being a parent.”

In Spy Kids 4, she says of this modern, multi-tasking woman, she portrays, “I think that’s what’s kind of nice about this movie is that you get to see into what that’s like.  She’s not bitter and she’s not a curmudgeon.  She’s trying to keep it together, trying to still look cute, and trying to be cool with her step kids. She’s trying to be the best mother she can be and trying to be a good wife.”

The idea that women can ‘do it all,’ certainly puts the pressure on, and a subject Alba is all too familiar with.  “To make it as a career woman often means you almost have to overachieve over men a lot of the time, and do it without seeming bitchy. And then, on top of that, you have to be the world’s best mother, the best at planning, the best at cooking,” she laughs.  “It’s a little bit nuts,” she says.

Wearing a figure-hugging Elizabeth and James dress, while she doesn’t disclose how long until her second baby arrives, it certainly looks imminent.

“Yes, it is,” is all she will say on the subject of a due date.  “I think I'll enjoy the ‘baby time,’ more with this one. I was so excited for every milestone because I was going through it for the first time.  At every weigh in, I wanted to know when she’ll start rolling over, when she’ll start teething, when she can have solids, all that was such a big deal.  I now realise that those milestones are going to happen, regardless. So, I’m just going to enjoy the baby as long as humanly possible.  Once that time has gone, it’s really gone,” she smiles.

A busy lifestyle, Alba also participates and raises money in numerous charities including:  AIDS charity Afar, as well as Clothes Off Our Back, Habitat for Humanity, National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Project HOME, RADD, Revlon run/Walk for Women, SOS Children Villages, Soles4Souls.  She also endorsed and supported then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

Alba most recently spent time lobbying in support of the Safe Chemicals Act, a revision of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.  This has become her latest pet peeve.

“I’m developing my own baby line, Honest Company, for products like pacifiers, diapers and that kind of stuff, all made with materials that won’t be harmful to the baby.  Most products are toxic that they have on the market for babies so I created this line because I was frustrated about them all. It’s going to be more eco things that are green but they’ll also be cute and safe. Most importantly, they’ll be non toxic.

“I've been working on it for about two and a half years. It’s going to be completely online. I have the right partners, one of them wrote a book called Healthy Child Healthy World, an expert in the healthy non toxic space.”

Her blackberry sits blinking on the arm rest.  She glances at it often.  Impressively, she manages to resist checking it until the end of the interview.

Spy Kids is not without its charm, for adults as well, and is easily watchable.  And, like most G-rated movies, it has a message.