What is imposter syndrome and which celebrities suffer from it?

They have successful careers, but did you know that a good number of celebrities believe that their careers are the result of chance or that they do not deserve their successes? They suffer from imposter syndrome.

A term coined by the American clinical psychologists Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes in 1978, 'imposter syndrome' refers to the inability to come to terms with their own achievements. They perceive them as the result of fraud or other people's circumstances, but never of their own doing.

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It is not always related to a lack of self-esteem, however, and can be often associated with an excess of perfectionism or self-demanding. The syndrome has been suffered by hugely successful names - from the great Meryl Streep to Michelle Obama and Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift was at a talk at the Tribeca Film Festival, which she attended to present her short film 'All Too Well: The Short Film'. She admitted that she had discovered she was suffering from imposter syndrome while filming it. "I had this imposter syndrome in my head saying, ‘No, you don’t do that. Other people who went to school do that,” she said to herself.

Another striking case is Bella Hadid, one of the world's highest paid models, according to Forbes, and top model in 2022. The model has also sometimes been subject to this syndrome: "I've had this impostor syndrome where people made me feel like I didn't deserve any of this," she told Vogue in an interview in 2022.

Obviously, this affliction also affects men. One of the most current actors in the business, Jacob Elordi, who in an interview with El País, said that every day he feels "that I shouldn't be here. That I'm an impostor".

In an interview with Time in the June 2023 issue, Kim Kardashian told Time that she suffers from the condition. "So I'm always like, 'Wait a minute, do I have imposter syndrome?' Where I can't believe that like we did it and I just don't believe it, so work hard to make sure that it doesn't go away." It seems this condition spurs her on.

One of the greatest actresses of all time (if not the greatest), Meryl Streep, has also admitted to feeling like an impostor on occasion. "You think, “Why would anyone want to see me again in a movie?” And I don't know how to act anyway so why am I doing this?" the multi-award-winning actress told USA Weekend in a 2002 interview.

Emma Watson's inability to objectively assess her professional achievements is incredibly surprising. "It's almost like the better I do, the more my feeling of inadequacy actually increases, because I'm just going, any moment, someone's going to find out I'm a total fraud, and that I don't deserve any of what I've achieved,'" she once told Rookie magazine.

Maisie Williams ('Game of Thrones'), told the British edition of 'Glamour' in 2020: "I think even being an actress for over a decade now, I still have imposter syndrome. Where you're asking yourself, 'Oh, is this really what I'm supposed to be doing?"

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“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," Ellie Goulding wrote on Instagram.

On the occasion of her inclusion in the 'BBC 100 Women' list of the most influential women in the world in 2022, the singer Billie Eilish gave an interview to the British media. She spoke, among other topics, about the imposter syndrome she feels, especially when facing large crowds at her concerts.

In an interview with 'The Times' of London, Canadian actor Joshua Jackson said that during his time on 'Dawson's Creek' he felt he was earning money he didn't deserve. He mentioned that the salary he received from several episodes of the series meant he earned much more than some of his friends' parents did in a whole year.

Speaking to Vogue, former US First Lady Michelle Obama acknowledged that "Imposter syndrome is so tough. For so long, women and girls have been told we don’t belong in the classroom, boardroom, or any room where big decisions are being made. So when we do manage to get into the room, we are still second-guessing ourselves, unsure if we really deserve our seat at the table. We doubt our own judgment, our own abilities, and our own reasons for being where we are."

"I’ve always had this feeling that one day they’re going to find out that I’m really a fraud, that I really don’t know what I’m doing," Michelle Pfeiffer told 'Interview' magazine in 2017.

"In a lot of ways, I'm quite proud that I'm still getting jobs," Robert Pattinson told The Observer in 2015, as, he admitted, he always feels like he's a fraud.

In an interview with 'The Independent', actress Tina Fey said "The beauty of the impostor syndrome is that you vacillate between extreme egomania and a complete feeling of: 'I'm a fraud! Oh God, they're onto me! I'm a fraud!"

Although with her own particular brand of humour, in an interview with 'Elle' in 2015, Amy Schumer offered some harsh reflections on her impostor syndrome: "When is Hollywood going to realise that I'm disgusting?" she said. "And that I have no right to be doing a movie?"

"I’m not trained, so I feel like every job I kind of got by accident because I tricked them, and they just haven’t found out yet. But inevitably they’re going to, and they’re going to fire me," she said to Chelsea Handler in an interview.

She is one of the most successful women in show business, both for her work in film and in the music industry, but Jennifer Lopez has not always felt confident with her voice. "After being told for so many years that you're not as good as this person or that person, it beats away on your insecurities," she told 'Good Morning Britain' in 2015.

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"A lot of the time I get so inspired by artists that have quite a lot of self-doubt or darkness. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, do I have to feel this much pain to be good at what I do?’

“That is sometimes what I think, sometimes imposter syndrome can get the better of me. Especially when I’m writing," Dua Lipa told The Sun in 2022.

In an interview with '60 Minutes', Jodie Foster, a victim of her impostor syndrome, admitted that for a while she thought they were going to take away the Oscar she won for 'The Accused' (1988). "I thought everybody would find out, and they'd take the Oscar back. They'd come to my house, knocking on the door, 'Excuse me, we meant to give that to someone else. That was going to Meryl Streep".

Speaking to 'The Hollywood Reporter', Lupita Nyong'o acknowledged that actress Emma Thompson helped her after winning her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for '12 Years a Slave' when her "imposter syndrome was at its peak".

Speaking to NPR in 2016, Tom Hanks said that there comes a point when you think, "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?"

Kate Winslet told 'The Mirror' in 2009 that "Sometimes I wake up in the morning before going off to a shoot, and I think, “I can’t do this; I’m a fraud. They’re going to fire me. I’m fat. I’m ugly."

"I have a huge crisis of faith and convince myself that I'm a terrible actor and I'm not actually any good at my job," she told the Daily Telegraph in 2019.

"'I still sometimes feel like a loser kid in high school and I just have to pick myself up and tell myself that I'm a superstar every morning so that I can get through this day and be for my fans what they need for me to be," Lady Gaga said in her HBO documentary.

"Yes, I always feel imposter syndrome because there are so many talented people out there" she admitted in 2021 in 'Harper's Bazaar'.

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