Jessica Alba: Always had imposter syndrome

MUMBAI: Actress Jessica Alba has admitted that she suffered from imposter syndrome when she moved on from acting career and embarked on an entrepreneurial journey.

“I’ve always had this imposter syndrome thing – and I always felt like I didn’t deserve to be here,” Alba revealed while talking about building her business on #StraightTalk, reports people.com.

Impostor syndrome refers to the belief that one is not as competent as others perceive one to be.

“I always felt like it was God, and luck and magic that had got me here. But I think being with my (producer Cash Warren]) over these years, he let me know, ‘Hey, it’s all the hard work you’ve always put in. You deserve to be here as much as anyone else.’ And over time I guess I’ve sort of let that sink in and marinate,” she added.

Alba founded The Honest Company in 2012. The lifestyle brand become a leader in the natural baby category and clean products. She expanded the brand with the launch of Honest Beauty in 2015.

The actress credits her husband Cash Warren for helping her gain self-confidence.

“My husband has the mentality of, ‘I deserve to be here’ — even though he is also a person of colour. He grew up in, as a minority, in a predominantly white Hollywood kind of environment; his dad being one of the few Black actors of his time,” Alba said, referring to her father-in-law, Michael Warren.

She continued: “He (her husband) always felt like, ‘if I don’t treat myself with that respect, how do I expect anyone else to treat me with that respect?’ And so that’s just the way he carries himself — not entitled in a way that you normally sort of hear it — but like, ‘I deserve to be here’.”