Jensen Ackles Says Jessica Alba Relentlessly ‘Picked’ On Him On ‘Dark Angel’

Jensen Ackles revealed that his co-star Jessica Alba on the sci-fi drama series Dark Angel gave him a pretty hard time when he was cast on the show at first.

Dark Angels, created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee, was Alba’s breakthrough role, and she earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Ackles made a brief appearance in the pilot, then joined the main cast in the show’s second and final season.

Ackles revealed the information on the podcast Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. “I was the new kid on the block, and I was picked on by the lead,” Ackles begins, claiming that Alba relentlessly made fun of him.

While he did call her behavior “horrible,” Ackles later clarified that the ribbing was well-intentioned from Alba’s end. “It wasn’t that she didn’t like me. She just was like ‘Oh, here’s the pretty boy that network brought in for some more window dressing.'”

Ackles said he eventually started fighting back, and that he would “fight fire with fire” by bickering with Alba “like brother and sister.”

He also theorized that Alba was under “undue stress” because of her relationship at the time. Alba was dating actor Michael Weatherly, and there was a 12 year age gap between the two.

Ackles ended the Alba discussion with a very sweet story. He recalled that Alba comforted him on set when he learned of his grandpa’s death. Ackles said after he got to the news, “she literally just walked into my trailer and held me for half an hour. So it was that kind of a relationship. If she walked in, we’d be all hugs, but she didn’t make it easy on me.”