Jessica Alba Refuses to Speak About Her Kidnapping as a 15-Year-Old From the Set of NBC TV Show 'Fli

Celebrity

Some fans also wondered if Jessica Alba's kidnapping at 14 years old stopped her from acting at the height of her career. 

Published on July 30, 2022

Jessica Alba has been in the public eye for almost her entire life. She began acting when she was just 11 years old and has continued to show up on screen ever since. However, the actor has a dark past, which includes being kidnapped as a teenager — something Alba has never publicly spoken about. 

Jessica Alba’s acting career

Alba began acting after winning free acting lessons when she was just 11. A few weeks later, she had an agent. Alba made her on-screen debut in the 1994 movie Camp Nowhere. From there, the young actor appeared in movies like Venus Rising, Never Been Kissed, and Idle Hands. 

She also showed up on TV, scoring roles on The Secret World of Alex Mack and Chicago Hope. Alba’s most famous television role was as Maya Graham in NBC’s Flipper. Maya was a 14-year-old who had a special connection with the titular dolphin. 

How Jessica Alba’s role in ‘Flipper’ led to her kidnapping

Flipper made her into a household name, but that fame also came with some dangerous side effects, reports The Mirror. While starring on the show, Alba started getting mysterious phone calls. She didn’t take them seriously, writing them off as pranks. However, the calls soon led to something far more sinister. 

One day, Alba disappeared from the set of Flipper. The teenager was missing for 14 hours and was eventually found — bound, gagged, and blindfolded — in the trunk of a car. Alba was unable to provide any details about the kidnapping, so the case was dismissed. 

Alba has never spoken publicly about the incident, but many point to the kidnapping as the reason she is extremely private. Some have also wondered if the terrifying incident was why Alba stopped acting at the height of her career. 

Was Jessica Alba’s kidnapping why she stepped back from acting?

While Alba still appears on screen, the actor has taken a huge step back from her acting career. However, she says that her decision was based on a desire to be with her children every day. 

“My mother had cancer at a really young age, in her early 20s. I grew up with chronic illness. I had five surgeries before I was 11 years old. I had chronic allergies, and I was hospitalized a lot as a child,” she said in an interview with Romper. “I had this real moment of, I want to live, and thrive, and spend as much time with this little person that I’m bringing into the world as possible and stay. So, my health matters. I want this little person to be healthy. And it’s really freaking hard to be happy when you don’t have your health.”

While some have wondered if Alba left acting because she wasn’t getting the big roles she was used to, but the actress quickly cleared up those rumors. 

“Frankly, I was at the top of my career,” she explained. “I couldn’t go back to what I was doing before and be authentic. I just couldn’t. I didn’t care about it the same way.”

Alba’s kidnapping was obviously a very traumatic incident, and many are happy the actor continued working over the years — and glad Alba has guarded her privacy since then. 

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