What Happened to the Hotness that Was Jessica Alba?

Do you remember those wonderful days when the slightest glimpse of Jessica Alba used to cause such a stir? Or how about that time when the sight of the young actress in a bikini would make all the rounds on the Internet, making boys weep at night in their beds and girls go green with envy and jealousy? Yeah, you should, since all that happened no less than a year ago, in 2005.

Although 2006 was a year in which Jessica Alba released zero movies (but she did shoot for several, due to be released in 2007), she was still considered and voted by many as one of the hottest chicks in Hollywood. Seriously now, she was in almost every top ten of gorgeous women of the year that just ended.

And yet, Jessica is not half as good-looking as she used to be: various media outlets are starting to speculate that she might be suffering from the same illness that made Nicole Richie slim down to a size zero, namely, anorexia. And the photos she appeared in at the launch of Jonathan Cheban's Clothing line on Saturday night could be used as an argument for this theory.

Without questioning Alba's beauty (she is indeed one of the most gorgeous young ladies in today's showbiz), I have to say that she's looking more gaunt than ever. I mean, she has obviously lost a lot of weight, a thing that can be easily seen in her more sharp facial features, but that's not what made her fans worry, but the paleness of her skin and the dark circles under her eyes.

Personally, I'm willing to cut her a little slack and to start from the premise that maybe she was too tired to be out partying. Or perhaps the lighting or the angle were not that good. Anything is better than the idea that the once curvy Jessica Alba might turn into a shadow of her old self or into an Olsen or a Richie.

Just to brighten up a bit our day, here's one bikini shot of her, taken the very next day after the first photo. Although it's a far cry from the way she used to look in beachwear, this pic should mark the beginning of a beautiful 2007... shouldn't it?