11 Times Celebrities Have Talked About Dealing With Imposter Syndrome

In April 2023, Joshua Jackson said making more money than his friends’ parents in his twenties was “the center of my imposter syndrome.”

In an interview with The Times of London, the “Dawson’s Creek” star said he didn’t deserve the money he made from the hit teen drama.

“I would make more money doing four episodes of ‘Dawson’s Creek’ than most of my friends’ parents made in a year,” he said. “That was the center of my impostor syndrome: ‘You’re trying to set me up to be a role model to kids, and I definitely am not, and you’re paying me all this money that I don’t deserve.'”

He also shared that the best career advice he ever received was to “go away” because “this business can consume you.”

“I love this dream of building this life with my wife and seeing her achieve her goals. In my twenties it was, ‘Maybe I’ll feel like this when I get here.’ At this point in my life I’m already here,” Jackson said.

In an April 2022 cover story for Vogue, Bella Hadid said that other people’s opinions on her career and looks made her feel like an imposter.

The model told the publication she was made to feel like she didn’t deserve success.

“I’ve had this impostor syndrome where people made me feel like I didn’t deserve any of this. People always have something to say, but what I have to say is, I’ve always been misunderstood in my industry and by the people around me,” she said.

Hadid also revealed that she regretted her nose job at 14 and wished she “kept the nose of my ancestors.”

Lupita Nyong’o said in October 2022 that she bucked imposter syndrome with advice from Emma Thompson.

The actress told The Hollywood Reporter that she felt pressure to capitalize on her momentum after winning best supporting actress for “12 Years a Slave” in 2014.

Nyong’o said that Emma Thompson told her to do what was best for her, which she said was life-saving advice.

“She did save my life. I had won this huge award, and my imposter syndrome was at an all-time high. I was so intimidated by this new platform that I seemed to have. I mean, I acted in one film,” she said.

Nyong’o continued: “She told me that she quit acting for over eight years at some point, and everybody told her that she would never be able to come back to it, and she did. She encouraged me to do what I thought was best for my instrument.” 

In February 2017, Emma Watson revealed that she felt like she didn’t belong at the last few premieres of the “Harry Potter” films.

“I’d walk down the red carpet and go into the bathroom. I had on so much makeup and these big, fluffy, full-on dresses. I’d put my hands on the sink and look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘Who is this?'” she told Vanity Fair. “I didn’t connect with the person who was looking back at me, and that was a very unsettling feeling.”

This wasn’t the first time Watson spoke about doubting her abilities. In a 2015 cover story for British Vogue, the actress said she didn’t understand why she got recognition for her acting.

“It’s something I’ve really wrestled with. I’ve gone back and I’ve quizzed my parents,” Watson said. “When I was younger, I just did it. I just acted. It was just there. So now when I receive recognition for my acting, I feel incredibly uncomfortable. I tend to turn in on myself. I feel like an imposter … It was just something I did.”

In December 2018, Michelle Obama told an audience of students her imposter syndrome “never goes away.”

The former first lady sat down with fellow author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to discuss Obama’s memoir “Becoming.” When asked how she felt about being a “symbol of hope,” she told the audience that she felt fraudulent.

“I still have a little [bit of] impostor syndrome, it never goes away, that you’re actually listening to me. It doesn’t go away, that feeling that you shouldn’t take me that seriously. What do I know?” she said, per the BBC. “I share that with you because we all have doubts in our abilities, about our power and what that power is.”

Ellie Goulding took to Instagram in October 2019 to talk about her self-doubt.

In honor of World Mental Health Day, held annually on October 10, the “Burn” vocalist shared a photo of herself on a swing and wrote about her anxieties in the caption.

“I know I chose this job but nothing could have prepared me for the ups and downs that come with it,” she wrote. “I know for sure that a lot of my anxiety has come from what they call ‘imposter syndrome’ not believing in myself enough and thinking that I don’t deserve happiness, which results in wanting to sabotage my own success.”

She said she used exercise to remind her “how cool it is to be alive,” and dedicated the post to her grandfather, who had taken his own life a few years prior.

Wolfgang Puck told Insider in July 2021 he still deals with bouts of imposter syndrome when opening new restaurants.

In an interview with Insider’s Rachel Askinasi, the legendary chef said he was terrified to open his first restaurant, Spago, and worried no one would attend his new openings.

He noted that he tries to channel his fear of failure into motivation.

“I think fear of failure is maybe a good thing. It’s not a good thing when you wake up in the middle of the night sweating, but I think it makes you work harder or it makes you look at things and say I’m gonna do the best I can,” he said.

Tom Hanks said he connected with his “A Hologram for the King” character’s insecurities in an April 2016 interview.

Speaking with NPR about the 2016 comedy-drama film, Hanks said self-doubt is “a high-wire act that we all walk.”

“No matter what we’ve done, there comes a point where you think, ‘How did I get here? When are they going to discover that I am, in fact, a fraud and take everything away from me?’ he said.

Hanks continued: “There are days when I know that 3 o’clock tomorrow afternoon I am going to have to deliver some degree of emotional goods, and if I can’t do it, that means I’m going to have to fake it. If I fake it, that means they might catch me at faking it, and if they catch me at faking it, well, then it’s just doomsday.”

In March 2010, Tina Fey said she sometimes switched between feeling egotistical to feeling like a phony.

The “Saturday Night Live” alumna told The Independent that she bounced back and forth in her feelings about her success.

“Ah, the impostor syndrome!? The beauty of the impostor syndrome is you vacillate between extreme egomania, and a complete feeling of: ‘I’m a fraud! Oh god, they’re on to me! I’m a fraud!'” Fey said. “So you just try to ride the egomania when it comes and enjoy it, and then slide through the idea of fraud.”

She said she also realized that “almost everyone is a fraud, so I try not to feel too bad about it.”

Speaking to graduating seniors at Harvard University in May 2015, Natalie Portman shared that she was still struggling with doubt.

Portman spoke at her alma mater’s Class Day, telling students she thought she was invited back to speak by accident.

“Today I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999. 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,” she said.

She advised the graduating class to “harness 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,” according to The Harvard Gazette.

Padma Lakshmi spoke about feeling like an imposter during her first season of “Top Chef” at a food event in March 2015.

According to The Cut, Lakshmi told the crowd at Cherry Bombe’s Jubilee conference that she initially felt a sense of uncertainty on set.

“On the first season of ‘Top Chef,’ I suffered from … impostor syndrome. I didn’t have [restaurant cooking experience] … I thought, I’ll just be a really good host,” she said.

After she overheard French chef Eric Ripert telling another chef about her “sensitive palate,” she learned to trust herself.

“Any time I felt insecure or insufficient — which I did a lot on that set — all I had to do was rely on what I did know rather than what I didn’t know,” the author said.