Natalie Portman relives ‘dark moments’ at Harvard in speech

Oscar-winning actor Natalie Portman returned to her alma mater and recalled how she had to prove herself as a worthy student while attending Harvard University.

The Black Swan star graduated from the prestigious Ivy League school in 2003 with a degree in psychology, and more than a decade later, she was asked to be the keynote speaker at Harvard College’s Class Day ceremony, reported People magazine.

“I went to a public high school on Long Island (New York). The girls I went to school with had Prada bags and flat-ironed hair. People didn’t pay much attention to the fact that I was an actress. I was known for having a backpack bigger than I was, and always having whiteout on my hands.

“When I came in (to Harvard) as a freshman in 1999, I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company. When I got to Harvard just after the release of Star Wars: Episode 1, I feared people would assume I had gotten in just for being famous, and not worthy of the intellectual rigor here,” she said.