Shonda Rhimes felt like she had been "stung by a thousand bees" when she became famous

Speaking on the recent Shonda Rhimes in Conversation with Robin Roberts: Year of Yes panel at 92NY, she said of being in the public eye: "It's so hard to do. I mean, my job was to imagine things.

"Name a TV showrunner or TV creator who you know their name on sight. There's not that many.

"So it was really startling and shocking to me, to be in a position where I was in a corner writing things for other people who should be famous, to discover that people wanted to talk to me or pay attention to me.

"It was like being stung by a thousand bees for me. It was really stressful. I just didn't have the equipment or the skill to get there."

The Scandal writer eventually dealt with her fears by embracing the opportunities that came her way, no matter how intimidating.

She said: "I really tried to do small things. I've always said, 'Do the thing that you're afraid of, because the act of doing it undoes the fear really strongly.'

"I think my first yes was getting a commencement speech in front of 10,000 people, which sounded like the craziest thing I'd ever come up with."

And one of her first big public appearances was on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

She recalled: "I let myself go on television and just do the thing. It was terrifying the whole time. And yet, when I was done, I was like, 'Oh, that wasn't so bad.'

"It was a lot of me reminding myself - the worst thing that could happen is that I'd fail. You know?

"But there are a million other things that can happen that are better than failure that could have happened.

"So, if the worst thing that happens is that you fail, why not do it anyway?"

And now, Shonda feels "more and more comfortable" with every public appearance, with the pivotal point coming when she was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey for the release of her 2015 book Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person.

She said: "I get more and more comfortable every time, but I think the first time I did an interview where I felt like I was truly being myself was an interview for [my book] and it was with Oprah.

"I went to her house, I went to the Promised Land, which was the most intimidating thing in the world. And I sat with her, and we did this interview.

"In that interview, for the first time, I'm just me. I'm not stressing over what I'm saying, I'm not rethinking everything in my head as I say it.

"I'm not so stressed that, like, I almost can't hear the questions, which was a thing. That has been a journey from there. Like, that was the first time I was comfortable, but it wasn't the last time I was a mess. ... We go back and forth - two steps forward, one step back."