Ashley Judd leaving her hotel. New York City, USA - 13.04.07

The actress admits her own low self esteem made her feel sure she had failed and so she quit the course before graduating in 1990.

But, unbeknownst to her, Judd had passed and only needed to sign off on her course - to become a lady of letters.

Just last year (06), the Frida star told a local newspaper that she would probably take a correspondence course to finish the one class necessary to get a degree, but she recently learned she wouldn't even need to do that.

The actress explains, "I completed four minors and an honours curriculum and in fact, I finished my degree in 1990 but I didn't believe that I had. I thought I had done it wrong and so all these years I let my low self-esteem lie to me.

"All I had to do was sign a piece of paper... The dean of my college phoned me and said, 'When are you going to sign that piece of paper, so I may send you your diploma?'"

Judd was awarded her diploma during an appearance on U.S. TV talk show Ellen yesterday (29May07), when host Ellen DeGeneres surprised her.

Fighting back proud tears, Judd said, "That's pretty neat... How terribly lovely... This is a big deal."

Source: WENN