Jessica Alba, who has long been dogged in the blogosphere by accusations that she's abandoned her Latina roots, is hitting back in a new magazine interview.
"I always took pride in being Latina," the actress says in the March issue of Latina magazine.
Alba, who recently announced she is pregnant with fiancé Cash Warren's baby, also says, "I'm excited for my baby to be brown. I just have to believe the dark gene is going to survive. Cash and I are like, please."
Responding to rumors that she cut loose from her Mexican heritage, she says, "I never said that. Cut loose from what? Why would I want to cut loose from the only family I know?" (Alba's father is Mexican-American, though both of his parents were born in California. Her mother is of Dutch and French descent.)
In the magazine, which hits stands Feb. 19, Alba says she initially struggled to be accepted as 'mainstream' in Hollywood. "I was always trying to figure out 'How the hell am I going to be mainstream? How are people going to accept me? When are they going to get a clue that I am American, that this is what America looks like – people like me who are mixed, have different blood, mixed with different ethnicities? When are the people who are hiring for these jobs and writing these screenplays going to realize that?'" Alba says.
"I always took pride in being Latina, it's something I always embraced," she adds. "But when I got shunned, it made me feel really bad, like maybe I'm not."
She says that now she loves her Latin features. "I like that I look different; I like having flavor. I think it's funny that women get their lips injected, butt implants – everyone wants to look like us now."
As an expectant mom, some of her assets are even more enhanced. "When you're pregnant, your breasts are engorged and your stomach is getting bigger by the second," she says. "But it's awesome. It's the best time ever."
