Real-life experiences of imposter syndrome among famous people

Ever felt like you haven’t earned your seat at the table? Well, you’re not alone. They say fake it ‘til you make it, but the trouble is knowing when you’re not faking it anymore.

Many successful celebrities, leaders, and entrepreneurs have described feeling like they’ve fooled the world into thinking they’re talented and worthy, and will be exposed as frauds at any moment. This is the definition of imposter syndrome. It’s experienced by people at all levels and in all walks of life, although women and minorities suffer disproportionately.

Pessimism vs. optimism

Some psychologists believe that imposter syndrome is linked to the way we respond to bad experiences in our lives. The responses can be simplified as pessimism or optimism.

Optimism

Optimists are more likely to think that a bad event is just a temporary setback, and likely a one-off occurrence. They are less likely to blame themselves.

Feeling like a fraud

For a pessimistic person with imposter syndrome, making a mistake is unacceptable. If you don’t feel worthy of your success, then a mistake could expose you as a fraud. Countless celebrities and other successful people have been open about experiencing this in their own lives.

Emma Watson

Emma Watson also admits to feeling like an imposter when she receives praise for her acting abilities. She says the feeling intensifies the more successful she becomes, as it feels more unbelievable that she’s "fooled" people.

Amy Poehler

In her book ‘Yes Please,’ Amy Poehler confirms that you never really feel like you’ve reached the top of ‘Career Mountain’ and are finally successful. It’s a constant struggle with feeling inadequate.

Penélope Cruz

Penélope Cruz says that she still feels like every movie is her first movie. In the first week, she always thinks she might be fired!

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster described feeling like it was a "fluke" when she won her Oscar, the same way she felt when she got into Yale. She admitted to feeling like a fraud, in constant fear that someone would discover she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama shared that she often still asks herself "am I good enough?"

Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Despite getting into Princeton and achieving the highest honor in her career field, she says she is always looking over her shoulder wondering if she measures up.

Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz was the CEO of Starbucks for more than 30 years. He revealed that almost no one feels qualified for the job of CEO, even though they won’t usually admit it.

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Tech billionaire and CEO of Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes (left) says that the feeling of being an imposter doesn’t go away with any level of success. In his experience, many other entrepreneurs had the same sense of being a fraud.

Tom Hanks

Oscar winner Tom Hanks expressed in an interview that no matter what you’ve done, you always wonder when everyone will figure out you’re a fraud and take it all away from you.

1. Acknowledge your feelings

Try to notice when you feel unworthy or like a failure. Recording these events in a journal is a good start. Start to analyze how realistic your beliefs about the situation are, and try to counteract them with some more positive alternatives.

3. Make a plan

Have a plan in place for when the negative voice starts putting you down and diminishing your success. Some people like to build up a digital folder of all the praise and good feedback they’ve received in their lives. You can look at this when you start to doubt yourself.