Maxim opts to capitalize on Jessica Alba’s ‘awkward’ experience

“Mechanic: Resurrection” actressJessica Alba is InStyle’s July coverstar and opened up on her struggles as a teenage sex symbol.

“My sexuality made me very uncomfortable,” Alba tells the magazine. “I remember my firstMaximshoot, the were telling me to pose a certain way, and I was like, ‘Agh!I’m 19. I’m a virgin. I don’t even know how to do that.’ It was so awkward.”

Alba, who rose to fame following her role on FOX’s “Dark Angel,” appeared on the October 2000 Maxim cover next to the headline “Jesica Alba Spreads Her Wings.” If that’s not enough to make you cringe, Maxim is now pattingthemselves on the back for creating a cover that “helped establish the then-‘Dark Angel’ star as one of the sexiest young actresses in Hollywood,” alongside another gross headline: “Jessica Alba: I was still a virgin when I posed for my first Maxim cover shoot.”

Meanwhile, the 35-year-oldactress and founder of the billion dollar conscientiousconsumer product brand, The Honest Company, knew she was more than just a trashy headline and exposed abs.“I sort of went through a life crisis,” she continues. “I was like, ‘This isn’t what I set out to be. I’m so much more than this, but I don’t know how not to be a sex symbol.’”

The July issue of InStyle hits stands June 10.