jalbaellcover.jpgJessica Alba graces the December cover of Elle mag, and the 29-year-old bomshell reveals that she's very shy and insecure!

"I don't like being the center of attention," Alba tells the mag. "When I do comedy, I lose all inhibition and introspection. I no longer care ... I know I haven’t been swimming in the deep end with some of the movies I’ve done. I wasn’t trying to. I knew what they were.”

"I'd been so afraid of criticism ever since I was young," she continues. "Every time I'd get a critique or some redirection, I'd always just take it very personally. Now I have no problem with it."

So how has motherhood affected her career? It certainly hasn't affected her smokin' hot body! The actress tells the mag, "The time I'm not spending with my kid has to be worth it, so when I sat down with my agents after I was ready to go back to work, I told them: It's all about the directors."