The roots of Mortimer’s insecurity

Emily Mortimer still feels like an impostor, said Jane Mulkerrins in The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.). The British actress co-wrote and stars in the new HBO comedy Doll & Em, has a recurring lead role in the hit show The Newsroom, and is happily married with two kids. Yet Mortimer, 42, suffers from chronic insecurity. “I’m always paranoid and stressed out about any job I do,” she says. “I’m convinced I’m terrible and I’m going to get fired.” Her impostor syndrome has clear roots in her upbringing. Her late father was the famous British lawyer and author John Mortimer, who sent her to be educated at a prestigious London private school. “I remember someone saying, ‘You only got in because your dad’s John Mortimer,’ and part of that may be true. I was on the waiting list, and my dad took the headmistress to lunch. I’m sure he told her what an attractive, wonderful woman she was and put his hand on her knee, or something, and then I got in.” To make matters worse, he then proceeded to do her homework. “I used to get him to write all my essays. When I got an end-of-term report saying, ‘Emily’s stories are good, but they lack that vital spark of imagination,’ he was livid. I had to stop him complaining to the school.”

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