Natalie Portman Reveals 'Dark Moments' at Harvard in Speech

Natalie Portman returned to her alma mater after being invited as a keynote speaker during Harvard College's Class Day ceremony.

The 'V for Vendetta' actress graduated from Harvard with a degree in psychology and recalled how she had to prove herself as a worthy student in the Ivy League School.

She said, "When I came in as a freshman in 1999, I felt like there had been some mistake. That I wasn't smart enough to be in this company, that every time I opened my mouth, I would have to prove that I wasn't just a dumb actress."

She later went on to reveal how she went through some 'dark times' during her sophomore year in college.

"It's easy now to romanticize my time here, but I had some very difficult times here too. Some combination of being 19, dealing with my first heart break, taking birth control pills that have since been taken off the market for their depressive side effects, and spending too much time missing daylight during winter months led me to some pretty dark moments, particularly during sophomore year," she said.

"There were several occasions I started crying in meetings with professors, overwhelmed with what I was supposed to pull off, when I could barely get myself out of bed in the morning," she added.

The Oscar winner then also goes on to point how she learned some important lessons during her stay at Harvard that would later help in her acting career as well.

She said, "You can never be the best. The only thing you can be the best at is developing your own self. Make use of the fact that you don't doubt yourself too much right now. As we get older we get more realistic, and that realism does us no favors."