At Harvard, Natalie Portman Describes What Many Feel: Imposter Syndrome

“Sometimes, your insecurities and your inexperience may lead you, too, to embrace other people’s expectations, standards or values.” (Photo: YouTube)

We’ve all been there: Sometimes you achieve things in life and feel like maybe you didn’t really earn them. Celebrities are no exception—including Natalie Portman.

The Harvard University grad and Oscar winner gave a speech to graduating Harvard seniors this week in which she revealed that she struggled to feel like she’d earned her place when she enrolled in the prestigious university at age 18.

“Today I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999,” she said. “I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company, and that every time I opened my mouth I would have to prove that I wasn’t just a dumb actress.”

Watch Natalie Portman’s speech at Harvard’s Class Day, in which she describes feeling Imposter Syndrome. (Video: YouTube)

Portman says a lot of people believed that she was only accepted into the school because she was famous, and she worried that it was true. But she says that insecurity drove her to study harder, taking courses in neurobiology and advance Hebrew literature when friends and classmates were enrolling in less intense classes.

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“Sometimes, your insecurities and your inexperience may lead you, too, to embrace other people’s expectations, standards or values,” Portman said. “But you can harness that inexperience to carve out your own path, one that is free of the burden of knowing how things are supposed to be, a path that is defined by its own particular set of reasons.”

While Portman eventually realized that she was worthy of her accomplishments, many others suffer from the same thing. This feeling even has a formal name. It’s called “Imposter syndrome,” or feeling like you’re a fraud even when you’ve achieved great things, and it’s more common than you’d think, says Jackson Rainer, PhD, a board-certified clinical psychologist at the Care and Counseling Center of Georgia.

“People suffer from Imposter Syndrome because they learn very early how to meet others’ expectations without endorsing themselves,” he tells Yahoo Health, adding that it’s “surprisingly common” in high-achievers.

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Joyce Roche, author of “The Empress Has No Clothes: Conquering Self-Doubt to Embrace Success” says imposter syndrome is prevalent among people who feel that they’re different from others. She lists women working in a predominantly male workplace, people of color in a majority environment, and those who grew up poor who are surrounded by people who were brought up with economic resources as the most likely to suffer from the syndrome.

Rainer says imposter syndrome was historically more common in women, but he’s now seeing more millennial and Gen X men in his practice who suffer from it as well. Why? It’s because people are expected to move at an incredibly fast pace, he explains, which can result in learning a skill without taking the time to feel comfortable with it or validated that they’ve mastered it.

There are varying degrees of imposter syndrome, Rainer says: Most of us live with some fear that we’re not good enough, but it can get so bad that it can prevent a person from achieving their goals or giving up altogether.

Luckily, it’s possible to move beyond imposter syndrome, says Ramani Durvasula, PhD, a clinical psychologist practicing in California. She tells Yahoo Health that it’s important to try to step away from social comparisons and what others think, as well as learning to define yourself outside of your accomplishments, adding that self-reflection and therapy can help.

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Durvasula also says it’s important to talk to people you trust about how you’re feeling. “Once you recognize that more people than you realize are having similar feelings to yours…that can normalize your experience,” she says.

Portman, who graduated in 2003 with a degree in psychology, seems to have moved beyond her imposter syndrome. She says she eventually accepted that acting was her passion and, after years of being in school, she couldn’t wait to get back to it.

“I realized that seriousness for seriousness’s sake was its own kind of trophy, and a dubious one, a pose I sought to counter some half-imagined argument about who I was,” she said. “There was a reason I was an actor: I loved what I do. And I saw from my peers and mentors, not only was that an acceptable reason, it was the best reason.”

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