Call Her Daddy - Priyanka Chopra Jonas: Falling in Love With Yourself & Then Your Soulmate

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

Priyanka Chopra Jonas joins Call Her Daddy to discuss the obstacles she's faced in life and throughout the rise of her career. Priyanka opens up about the bullying she experienced when she moved from India to the United States during high school and how it impacted her self-worth. She shares how she navigated moments where she felt alone and gives advice for others going through similar experiences. She talks about the life-changing moment of winning Miss World and how she quickly thought it was all going to end after a medical nose job was botched. Priyanka speaks about the frustration of constantly having her body commented on and picked apart by both the public and people within the industry. She reflects on her romantic relationships prior to meeting her husband Nick and discusses why she found herself constantly settling. Priyanka gushes about Nick and talks about their love story, why he's a great husband, and the best part of being married to a Jonas Brother. Call Her Daddy Apparel is here. Shop the Spring '23 collection at  ⁠shop.callherdaddy.com

what is up daddy gang it is your founding father alex cooper with call her daddy priyanka chopra jonas welcome to call her daddy thank you so much before we even start i was like you walked into my house i'm like why do you smell so good now the entire studio smells like you and i'm like what what is this So I can have this in my studio. What are you wearing? So I don't even know what I'm wearing. I'll tell you why. This perfume is called My Love Has the Color of the Night. But I before I start any movie or before I start a character, I have to find her scent. I need like that's how I kind of create like that's my character development, who this person is.

Because everyone has their scent. And the notes in the scent help me kind of figure out personality type. So if she's like soft, tough, strong, vulnerable, you know, she smells a certain way. She smells amazing. I'm also so happy you're here because I don't know if you know this, but my boyfriend and your husband golf together. Oh, oh, you're a golf widow like me. I was like all the time he's gone. And then I remember I told him we were doing the interview today.

And he's like, oh, I like golf with Nick all the time. That's so funny. That's where they are all the time, Priyanka. Yes, I know. I have my clubs. You know, my husband got me fitted and suited. And like, he was smart. He tried to get me in, you know. Oh got me fitted and suited and like he was smart he tried to get me in you know oh my god yeah yeah he was like come with me come come that's what

they do I guess it's also a testament if they really like you because my boyfriend did that too most men are probably like peace the fuck out going to golf it's like golf but I know that's true right yeah that our guys want to hang out with us, which is true. My like my husband loves when I drive his golf cart around when he's playing and we just like listen to music and chat. And I like hanging out with him when he's playing golf. But then I don't like playing golf with him. We're on the same page. Yeah. do you guys live in la right now yes we live in la so you're from india and your parents were military doctors you're moving around a lot how did moving around so much in your childhood

impact you I think very positively I don't think it would have impacted me positively till like my dad kind of talked to me about it um I was in kindergarten I remember this so distinctly um and it was the first time I kind of comprehended what it was to move. And we were moving from Delhi somewhere else. I can't remember. And I had to leave my friends and my school. And I was doing really well in class. My best friend, her name was Denise. And she and I cried.

And I was really mad at my dad. And I was like, I don't want to leave here. Why do I have to leave if you have to leave? And he explained it to me in such an amazing way. He was like, you know, your math class that you don't like at all. He was like, if you go to a new school, they won't know you don't like math. He was like, if you go to the new school, you could be whoever you want. So that really pivoted me for my whole life. I, he made everything an adventure for us um every journey love we loved road trips

so we used to just like dump our shit in the car and like drive to the Himalayan mountains and like go to a small Himalayan like city or mountain city and um go for the weekend even for like three days there was such a spirit of adventure because we moved so much but also I was like even now I don't think I have material attachments like I'm not like I need my bed I don't I can just grab a bunch of shit and go to another hotel and like I can move and like I'm just transient as long as I have my family I have the six things that I like, like my Swell water bottle, which is my emotional support water bottle. I have a big old bag of all my Mary Poppins shit. Like whatever you can think of is probably in there.

Okay, first of all, that's amazing. But I also was wondering, like, when you're young, I feel like friendship is like, I mean, you saw my best friend from second grade is sitting over there. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like, it's so hard to move. Because how were you able to maintain friendships? Was it a lot of long distance friendships?

It's so weird. I'm thinking about it now because I didn't realize that during my childhood, I didn't have very long term friendships. I had friendships for two years, three years, and then we moved. But my best friend, who was my maid of honor as well, and still my best friend, has, like, I've known her for 23 years, you know, since I was 17. She's my longest, I guess, old friendship besides my cousins.

I come from a big, large Indian family. So that became a sort of consistent friendship. But I don't think till I turned 17 I probably started working that I had like I don't have a childhood best friend that I can that is still my childhood best friend and I get that because I actually think it's interesting I think I've heard so many times when people a lot of times I think it's kids that say like come from a military background they're like the new kid in every few years and you have to pop in. That also gives you a sense of resiliency because you have to constantly be the new person walking in where everyone has their set boundaries and friends and lifestyle. But clearly your dad was like, I have a secret for you.

Life is great when you can pop in and out. It's life changing because it became such a weapon for me, almost like armor. You go to the United States in high school. Yes, I was 13. What was the biggest culture shock for you coming to the United States in high school? Well, OK, I to me, high school in the States was like saved by the bell. It was Beverly Hills 90210. Like that's what I thought I was coming into.

And I landed into Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A little bit different than Beverly Hills. Slightly. I love Beverly Hills. Slightly different. But in my mind, my 13-year-old mind, as someone who comes from India, we have a population now of almost 1.5 plus billion people it's a very busy country so our schools are very different than yours we have a hundred kids to one class we have exactly

exactly Alex's jaws on the floor yes we have a hundred almost 160 to 100 kids in one class and the teachers move classes the kids don't can you imagine hallways like a hundred kids per class yeah exactly so our kids stay in their classroom that they're assigned to for the whole day come out for recess and our teachers move around so we had like differences like that also I had never been to an indian school that had a swimming pool that had like you know a football field that had hallways the size of a whale like there was just so much space and i was specifically like houses were so far away from each other i went on bus rides i didn't even see human beings i was like damn they should take a whole state from India and just, you know, we'd

have so much more room. Right. But that was a big thing for me was like I was the enormity of everything. Everything was supersized. I do want to ask you, I know you've been open about getting bullied in high school and I was severely bullied in middle school. I had like I had like the cystic acne that when you like see the pictures, you're like, oh, I can't like look at it.

It's like that bad where people are like disgusted with you. That was me. And it was really, really hard to like love any part of myself. I was like physically bullied. I was verbally bullied. Like it was fucking awful. I literally cry every time. How old were you?

It started when I was like in sixth grade. And I would say sixth grade to like freshman year of high school was like hell. Like I hated everything about myself. I hated the way I looked. I like every time I looked in the mirror I would like google any way that I could change everything about myself. So I wanted to share that though because I know that you have been kind of open about you were bullied in high school. But what specifically were you picked on for? So this is 10th grade. This is in Boston, in Newton, actually, Newton, Massachusetts. My high school was Newton North High School. And I just it was a group of girls. And I think what happened was I think they thought it's always a boy. It's always about a boy.

I think one of them thought her boyfriend was into me or we were spending time together. I wasn't even allowed to go out after school. Where was I going to be spending time with this boy? So when there's this rumor going around that he spent like the weekend with me, I don't know which girl he was with, but there was some ish like that. And these girls just started taking me on. But what they started saying was instead of like, bitch, stay away from my man, they started like, you know, using racial slurs. So like, I smell curry. Oh, I smell curry walking down the hallway. Like, I don't think she had time to shower. Like, just nasty racial things. And then it just became bullying because, you know, pushing against lockers,

just saying nasty things, writing something nasty in the bathroom, in the stalls. You know, it's just like things like mean girl stuff that, you know, that high school is made of. I think it was just who knows what it was. I can't go back and dissect it. I can only talk about how it made me feel and how it made me feel was less than how it made me feel was inferior, smaller. It made me like want to dim my shine. It made me want to like you know curl my toes and I'm not that girl my parents raised me with confidence they raised me with having my shine

and being okay with it they raised me like I wasn't shy and they were okay with that they loved that about me and that was encouraged so I started like kind of, you know, becoming just smaller because I was just like not comfortable with any part of myself. So then I did what my dad taught me. He was like, just pack your bags and go. And I left and I was like, fuck you, America. I'm going back to India. And I went back to India and thank God I did because it's kickstarted my whole career I'm interested to know because like I've been working on this in therapy of like what lingering impacts of bullying were you still or have you realized you were kind of still working through like as you entered adulthood I should go to therapy more often

yeah I don't have a therapist nobody explains that to me I't know. I honestly don't have the answer to that because I just kind of survived life. You know, I did not have the time or did not allow myself the time to think about it. I did not allow myself to think about why I was behaving a certain way. I just was in survivor mode. I think also, you know, I think in my my country we are so many people in india opportunities are less and i think as women um i started working as soon as i went back to india after high school um i won this little pageant called miss world and that little just little thing because I think culturally also you know we've we are taught very often in in countries that are developing in developing countries that um you know if you don't work hard and if you don't like work hard every day it's going to be taken away from you

you know you have to every single you can't rest on your laurels you can't take a second to be like oh I just had that let me just take a second to celebrate. You don't have time for it. Somebody else is going to take it from you. So you kind of are always in survival mode. And my 20s were entirely like that. I didn't take a vacation until I was in my 30s, I think, because I was like, oh, no, someone's going to take this from me.

I have to keep running. This survival mode you're almost working on. What did shift for you mentally when you won the Miss World pageant I thought I was so all that can you imagine I was 18 years old just come out of high school literally with all of that drama and saying like leaving breaking up with the whole country I broke up with America I was like this sucks I'm going back to india and when i went back to india i land into this small town called bareilly in india i walk into army

public school looking like that girl and everyone in army public school wears uniforms we're not we're not allowed to because of the socio-economic differences between kids schools prefer uniforms everyone's the same in class um so no one can be like ah i'm wearing this like branded thing and the other kid doesn't have it so and i walk in like i don't know man like i was angelina jolie or something i felt myself so i was like you know what janine janine was her name um was like, you know what, Janine, Janine was her name. I was like, you know what, Janine, when I landed in Dubrele, I was like, I am the queen of this castle. You cannot take that away from me. I was such a peacock.

Where do you think you got that confidence? I fucking love it, though. I made it up because that's what my dad told me. Remember, he was like the math teacher that didn't like you. The next school they won't know that we'll never know so you could just be whoever you want and I realized that I've done that so many times in my life it's such a repeat pattern for me I'm not afraid of walking into the party alone I'm not afraid of walking up to someone and saying hey this is my name I'm willing to

learn from you but have you ever that because I think that's an amazing quality, but I'm wondering, have you ever, on the opposite end, had a hard time, if you're having a hard time, do you always end up walking away? Because you just know you can leave and you can go somewhere else.

Not in relationships. I never did. I was like, I had the longest relationships, like snooze, like six years, five years. You're in that shit. I was like in it for forever. I just find it. I'm a cancerian.

I find it hard to break up. Got it. But socially, I guess there is no issue with being like, if you're being treated poorly, peace. Bye. I don't need to deal with that. No, I never. Like, that's so funny.

And I need to unpack this with a therapist somebody please send me recommendations i need somebody to explain this shit to me because i behave so weirdly because no when i'm treated like shit i kind of like i'm okay staying in it i used to be okay staying in it for a very long time because i was like this doesn't affect me yeah you don't hurt me you don't have the power but I didn't realize it was chipping away at my soul so I used to state whether it's professional relationships personal relationships especially when it comes to human beings I was like if you're being mean to me and I want to you know like on

set or something or divas you know I'm an actor I've worked for the actors right I've met a lot of divas and you know people who need things their way or the highway and I used to be able to just you know let it be water off my back I would be I would tell myself that it doesn't affect me I'm professional I'm just going to work through it or I'm loyal so I'm gonna stay in this you're hurting me because you're probably hurt you know I always had some sort of empathy it took me till my like late 30s to finally be like I'm not taking your shit right like that's shit I smell it from a distance and I'm not sitting in it right like fuck Fuck you. But I didn't know that for the longest time. It's so interesting getting to know you because I'm like, even though in moments you were

had people bullying you, racial slurs, then you're like, peace out. I'm going back to India. Then you were showing up in like your outfits. You're like, look at this fucking puffer jacket, bitches. Step aside in your uniform. Totally. I've arrived. Yeah.

I'm from New york right but then it's like i wonder i'm curious to know like did you ever in any of these like hard moments adolescent moments where you're like trying to figure your shit out did you ever like cry alone in your room only only alone also i feel like immigrants you know when we come to a different country most of our parents have told us or, you know, elders have told us, like, be invisible. Don't get into trouble. Don't attract attention. Just do your work. Just survive.

Because that's what they had to do when they came to a country. They didn't know the language. They didn't know the culture. They just kept their heads down and worked. Right. So that that was the the culture that was taught to us but I inherently was a peacock and I was like somebody's trying to curb my shine here you know um but I was trying to find my confidence in Cedar Rapids and I

remember I tried to find the cafeteria and you had to go down the spiral staircase to reach this giant cafeteria, which was like a whole floor. And I remember looking down like that and it was like a movie. I was like, oh, those are the popular kids. OK, OK. Nerds, great. Where am I sitting? Everyone had their clicks. Everyone had their friends.

I didn't even know how to get the food. So I I walked downstairs and I'm like kind of observing I don't know anyone and I got so terrified that I went upstairs I put 50 cents in the vending vending machine I got a bag of Doritos I went to the bathroom because I didn't want to go to my next class it was Spanish I still remember I went to the bathroom sat on the commode and ate my Doritos for lunch and cried. And I was like, this is terrifying. But I chose it. I had told my mom I wanted to stay. And I was like, I'm gonna suck it up. It's okay. It's okay. I talked, I've always been able to talk myself out of my stress, maybe because I traveled, I was raised by many people, not just my parents,

my aunts raised me my grandmother raised me because my parents were working parents my mother was doing her masters when I was born so it's my grandparents for four or five years I was with my aunts and family and extended family I've always somehow been able to allow myself to feel broken completely. Either go to bed, eat a tub of ice cream or a pizza, process the feelings. And I have allowed myself that duration of that, whatever that grief is, instead of being hard on myself. And then I've also been my own champion. Like I'll dust myself off.

And sometimes that time has just been lunch break and sometimes that time has lasted three or four years but I've kind of maybe that's why I've never found a therapist is because I just kind of do that to myself no I give myself a hug you're like I do the whole process by myself I don't need to sit on a couch I can do it alone I really want to experience it though it's incredible feeling because all of a sudden you start talking about something. You're like, how did I not know this about myself? What I do love getting to know about you though, that's fun to hear is like, I think this resilience you have clearly from your parents and like listening to like culturally, there was something embedded in you. But as we've all

realized, like our parents had something they had to go through and then we're like a little bit better than them because as society continues to progress, we're like, we're able to do a little bit more than they could. So I feel like this resilience in you is so inspirational to like listen to because I'm like, oh shit, like you felt like such an outsider.

You cried with your Doritos, but then still the next day, the fact that you could have left. You could have. I could have. I could have called my mom. But I was like, I'm going to stick it out because I made this decision. And I don't want my mom to feel like she couldn't trust me. And this is me at 13.

Like I let her down. And I didn't have a bad experience. I just didn't know what to do and how to make friends. And it's a new country. I always grew up speaking English. So that was never a problem. It was just the social awkwardness of I spoke differently. My accent was different.

I dressed differently. You know, I just, I mean, I was still in jeans, but I was like, I wasn't cute yet. Like I hadn't figured out what fashion was because I was in a uniform in school. Totally. Do you have advice for anyone that's listening? That's like, I feel like a complete outsider socially. I feel like I don't fit in. I hate everything about myself.

I'm struggling to like find the self-confidence. I feel like you had a very specific situation where all odds were kind of against you and you made the most. Like what is your advice to someone that's currently going through a similar situation that you were? That I don't think circumstances or your environment can dictate how you feel.

They can contribute to it. And it's up to you to decide how much you're taking in and how much you're leaving out and i this is not something again that i knew in my 20s obviously i was somehow doing it because i think my parents just like my family just taught me that resilience of bounce back up but um i've always my mom says that to me she's like you're you've always been someone who like just bounces up and you're like, oh, it's OK. It's OK. It was a mistake. I'll try it again. But if you treat life like that, like whenever life has been tough and it's been tough many times, it's been challenging.

You know, it's been almost down and out and you don't want to get out of bed and you don't want to see anyone. But my job, I can't make an excuse when I have to go on set like canceling a day of production is 400 people not getting paid it is an insurance liability it is so whatever is happening in my life I had to show up to set I would go into the trailer I would take a moment I would cry my eyes out I'd be on phone. I'll have the fight with the boyfriend. I'll like be upset with whatever is happening, you know, be rejected for a movie, handle it. I grew up in the public eye. So I kind of realized that my best person was me. I had to rely on my skill set. So like if you're having a tough time with a new job you don't have to worry about people liking you or you're not there for that you've got to be good at your

job so I whenever I was nervous or I was scared I started focusing on whatever was the goal in that moment whether that was the relationship whether that was the movie whether that was you know whatever it might be you know wearing the right dress or figuring out you know how to make friends in a new school like you know I kind of was like okay what's my goal my goal is to make friends so tomorrow I'm gonna go downstairs the cafeteria with my bag of Doritos and just observe so I watched alone. I was fine. I was just like watching. I was like, okay, that kid picks up a tray from there. You put the tray down there. They give you food. You come to this side, you pay the woman and then you find your friends. So I was like, there are a couple of things I have to learn here. I have to

figure out what food they feed me and where I'm sitting because i don't know anybody so like that slowly i just made solution oriented steps hearing you talk about that you're so right it's like you have to put yourself out there a little bit you have to eventually it's gonna come together and there's usually someone going through something similar everyone's going through all the shit right please that's the one thing that we never talk about enough it's like everyone looks put together we see instagram we see our meet included like i put my best version out there i don't want you see me in my like you know morning face with like you know swollen eyes like i don't want you to see that and that's the truth we live in a world where optics matter and people have given it so much equity right now but you have to know that

all of those people have their shit all of them they all have the drama they're all like not being able to sleep at night and everyone has like no noise in their heads and you know so we feel so alone sometimes because we stay in our heads with our issues. What has helped me the most is having a really close-knit community. You cannot and should not go through life alone. Man is not an island. Humans are not meant to be alone. We are social creatures. We have to have, whether that's two people,

one person, three people, whoever, you have to build a community. The importance of community, I can't even stress much. It's like my sanity. And I've dealt in this amazingly beautiful two decade career, ups and downs, shit being said to me, being rejected, being a woman in the industry, aging in the industry. I'm expected to look like I looked at 18. So many things that you know, you deal with that hurt that you handle but when you go home and you sit with your friends or your family and you're like yourself goofy silly snotty when you cry

and they still love you and they still want you to win then nothing else matters then it's a job it's so then you just go to work and it sounds so simple and sometimes it's so fucking hard to remember but you're so right and i i appreciate you kind of going through also like that your public career is something that i can only imagine like you know we're talking about like dealing with things behind the scenes in school and then at the start of your career you also face scrutiny where you had to get a nose job for medical reasons and people in the media people in the industry had so much to say about it can you talk about that experience and like what you remember about that time it was actually an accident apparently i didn't even know i could sue the doctor. Otherwise, we should have done that. But I spoke about this in my book.

It took me years to talk about it because I usually I reached a point in my life. When I became a public person at like 18, I by the time I was like in my mid 20s, I was like, fuck this. I'm done explaining to people because I'm being used it's giving another um wave of fresh gossip to the gossip rags right if I if I comment on something that is inaccurate or unquote like you know wrongly quoted or whatever I'm just giving a fresh cycle of news so I was just like I unless it's it's hurting someone or unless it's like it doesn't matter to me it's like that my you know what's written about me in the rags or the gossip or or all of that is not my job the fame is a

byproduct of my job my job is entertainment like acting and like so I came to terms with that but when I was younger at that time I'll take you back to what I felt like I was 18 I just won Miss World and I was always a sickly kid I had asthma when I was growing up anyway I'm in London have this because that's where Miss World resides and I had this like sinus like insane cold headaches went to the doctor they had to do a polypectomy apparently was called um and I don't know he like I had a thing on my nose and he just came out and he said how many teens I didn't make sense of it very much he said oh um you know I just like added finishing touches to your nose as well since you were in there. And all's great and whatever.

And he was like, oh, you're going to India. You could travel to India. It's all good. And my mom was like, no, I think we'll wait for like the thing to come off and bandages to come off. Anyway, that stuff comes off. My nose is a different shape. Apparently, the bridge of my nose collapsed or something during surgery. And this guy like bandaged it up or something.

And I was so anyway, I land into India. My dad and mom are devastated because obviously I've just become a public person. And now I look completely different. People think it's a choice that went wrong and I was anyway feeling Trump like I wouldn't look at the mirror I remember I was just turned 19 it was time to give away the crown and I was so traumatized and depressed because I thought my and I was told and it was at that time my face was my career and it was now like it looked like something completely that I didn't recognize and I was very depressed my best friend Tamanna really

helped me through at that time my dad because he was a surgeon found like amazing surgeons in India and helped me reconstruct it but it took a couple of years for it to kind of kind of come back close to what it is right now but I was kicked out of movies that time um I remember there were screen tests done because there was gossip around how I'd changed my face and I was signed for this big movie because I was Miss World and um they were like we want to do a screen test with you and And I was told like, you know, we're just going in a different direction. And I had science moves. So I was kicked out of two movies. I was the lead in one movie and made the supporting part.

And somebody else was cast as the lead. And I just thought my career was over before it even started. I was just like, and my dad and mom sat me down. They said, guess what? The great part of this is this was never supposed to be your career you were working to be an engineer you could be anything you want to be we'll fix your nose sure your parents are doctors like we got this they just took the power away from it and my dad was like I had signed these four movies and I was like you know there's no point he was like you've made this commitment just do these four you can

always go back to college like it doesn't matter go back to school like want to go study in Australia go to Australia do whatever you want if it doesn't work out and I was like yeah true so anyway these surgeries started happening. I'm filming for these two or three movies that I had at that time. And by the end of those two or three movies, I knew what I was doing for the rest of my life. You were raised by incredible parents. Yeah, my parents rock. I mean, like, that is to have parents be able to just, like, scoop you out a really dark time be like who gives a fuck always every single time they just are like who cares and my dad I lost him in 2013 to cancer but he was the most sensitive guy so he would get really hurt when I was hurt like he would physically shed

tears and get really hurt when I was hurt but my parents had this amazing ability to just diffuse it and when it gets diffused and I've always tried to implement that in my life is like when you feel like it's so big and it's overwhelming and there's no space in the room and you can't breathe because you're thinking about this thing and it's big and it's overwhelming and there's no space in the room and you can't breathe because you're thinking about this thing and it's big and it's big and it's big when you open up a window there's suddenly air right that window is talking about it that window is talking to someone soundly and decompressing someone you trust someone you know has your best interest at heart and just talking about it two days five days three hours whatever it might take it just takes away the power of that

gnarly thing and then you can take a breath and like take a informed decision you're so right talking about it like the power of just like discussing it with someone you trust it's so simple i never would give it as much credit as i do now in my 40s like i crazy it's insane and then all of a sudden you wake up and like sometimes my boyfriend is like jesus christ like how much longer are we going to talk about this topic but i'm like okay i'm having a full mental breakdown about this i'm so stressed and then in the morning after i like kept him up till 3 a.m you do wake up and you're like holy shit i feel so much better.

And it's not going to happen overnight. But like even when I call my mom about shit and I'm so stressed, that immediately just like alleviates a little bit of the pressure because having that human interaction allows you to just recognize like, oh, this shit is not as serious as I'm making in my head. We're our own worst enemy. You're thinking about it. You're ruminating on it. You're thinking of all the twists

and turns that it could go and then speaking to like someone that loves you and they're like, we got you. Yeah. Or even like, exactly.

Talking to someone who loves you, that's the crucial thing. It's, when you talk to someone who loves you and you have to be willing to listen as well. Great point.

Like, and I've been through a time in my life where my best my best friend my mom my family they would all say you know what i'm not even going to talk to you about this anymore because you're not listening oh i've had that too me too and it's okay and it's okay it is you don't want to listen at that point you got to be ready to listen yeah how does the like fixation on your looks or bullying feel different as a Hollywood actor versus a teenager in high school? I mean, you still feel really shitty and degraded.

And I think obviously women go through it a lot more than men. I mean, guys have, you know, their whole thing about being fit and looking a certain way in in entertainment as well but I think that I was you know when I was younger when you're younger at least for me I was at a time in my life where I was developing and growing and I had really you know I come from a country where in Asia there's massive equity on light skin so everybody wants to be lighter skinned and in America everybody wants to be darker skinned because you're in tanning machines and tanning salons and for the longest time when I was young I didn't think that this my skin was pretty and that like I was dark dark skinned and I'm not even that dark

skinned compared to people because that's the normal that I grew up with and then when I was dark, dark skinned and I'm not even that dark skinned compared to people because that's the normal that I grew up with. And then when I was in high school, I had like scars. I was a tomboy. I didn't I wasn't comfortable with like how my legs looked. It wasn't all smooth. My hair was frizzy. I was just not confident, you know so i was you grapple with that stuff but you kind of i found expression and fashion and how i dressed and makeup and like fun friends you don't go to the mall like boys

all those things distracted me but i think in entertainment like the narratives are set by our industry a lot of our the narratives that my younger self went through were because there were ads on tv which i also participated in later because it was that normal that told me that the lighter i was the prettier i was and that narrative was set by the industry that i joined and then the our industry whether that's beauty and standards of beauty like now we're at an age where we're talking about it when I first joined like 20 years ago we didn't talk about it it was just expected that you are read skinny like your your pelvic bones show that and it doesn't matter how you get there or you know you're you're you look a certain way and anything deviating from

that is not pretty people in fashion people in film could actually ask you to be a certain body weight they could actually tell you that you know you have to be able to get into this dress size like that was all okay and normal it's now it happens behind closed doors it still happens and that's me now at this position in my life i cannot imagine young kids out there who subliminally or loudly have to hear it so i think the conversation needs to be loud about like how destructive that pattern is and who decides what is beautiful. Just like art, beauty is subjective. What's beautiful in your culture, like I just said, everyone is jumping into tanning machines in America and everyone is using like fairness creams in Asia.

So I just think that when we talk about inclusion, we have to give room for what inclusion and what beauty looks like. We have to break, actually, the narratives that we set up of, you know, a long time ago of what beauty is. We have to have healthy conversation about the female body, the male body and aging and the reality of that. Shifting to dating a little bit. Ooh, I knew you'd come to that.

You knew it was coming. I've heard your podcast. Before meeting your husband, did you find yourself stuck in any patterns with your romantic relationships and the partners you were choosing? Yeah, definitely. In fact, I was a serial monogamist. I went from relationship to relationship to relationship I did not give myself time at all between between relationships till my last one why do you think that was I think I worked a lot and I always ended up dating the actors that I worked with or the people that I met on my set and I think that I just thought I had an idea of what a relationship should be like.

And I kept seeking that and trying to fit the people that came into my life into my idea of that relationship. And I've dated great people. Yeah, the relationships may have ended really badly, some of them. But like the people that I've had, I've dated in my life have been really wonderful but it was like I after my my ex before my husband I literally took two years off and that was a big reason I didn't even date Nick at that time because I was just like I need to know why I keep repeating my mistakes and the repeating of the mistake was always feeling like I need to be the caretaker always feeling like it's okay to cancel my job or my work

or my meeting or my priority to make sure that he's propped up. It was so normalized in my brain for so long that I ended up giving the power in such a skewed way that I never stood up for myself. I literally would become like a doormat and I was like, okay, that's fine. Sure. Because, you know, that's women have been told for such a long time that our role is the glue that binds the family together or the person that like, you know, you've got to make your man feel comfortable when he comes back home. He's got

to feel great like that thing and I also come from a patriarchal society where women I mean I think the world is kind of patriarchal but back home also you know like there's a normalcy around like the men eating first and then women in the kitchen and you know you just stay at home career like why do you need a career yes there are so many women around the world that are stepping out and wanting and fighting for their opportunity to go to school to be able to have an education to have a career or to just make choices you know so at at that time it was like when I was younger it was I was just very grateful to be from a family where my parents gave me that. But I lost my train of thought completely.

No, it's so interesting. No, I appreciate you talking about that. Everything you just said made exact sense. Every question you ask me takes me to so many different places. That's good. I hope so. That's great. Story making any sense?

No, it is. Because I think you're right we're like in relationships it makes so much sense probably why the relationship with nick is so healthy is because i find like if you go from relationship to relationship and you never pause to be like why does that work why the fuck did that end in shambles or why did i feel like shit or even if it was like fine and amicable but it ended like well why and if you just keep going you're gonna do the same thing over and over and to hear you being like it was like people pleasing and i was making sure he was good and i was sacrificing things that i wanted you're never gonna change unless you're

like priyanka what am i doing what do i need to adjust? Totally. And I like, I had reached a point in my life where I was like, what the fucking fuck are you doing? Like, this is getting self destructive at this point. And I had to choose me. I had to be like, I don't owe no one nothing except my family and myself. The who truly love me when you're in relationships where you stop recognizing who you are you stop having your own identity or you stop knowing what is it that you want by yourself or what your goals are you know then you're invisible. And I just started feeling invisible in my relationships. And it, and my husband makes me feel so seen, and so heard. And in fact, I think he thrives on seeing me shine. Like he will watch me like he's the most excited about the shows that I'm doing he was most excited you know

when I'm on a carpet you know he'll step aside and he'll take like pictures of me it's just like come on what was I thinking that's what you want you want your man to be your champion you want not you don't want your man to be insecure by you or intimidated by you or like, you know, like guys, especially when I'm I'm an alpha girl. I'm I'm I'm an ambitious girl. I am a go getter. I am not ashamed of that. I've built my career on my own back and my own steed and I've worked for it. My fortune's mine, you know? Like, you don't want to be with a guy that dims your shine or feels the need to take away from you even for a moment.

You want to be with a partner that says, you know what, babe? There's a problem, but I'll tell you later. I got it right. Now, why don't you go do your show? Let's have a fun time even if there's an issue like that's what you do and like I have found my husband and I have this incredible partnership of you know I got you and we communicate and we feel like a sense of I can

lean you know that trust exercise like I would never do that with anyone else except me i don't trust people but he's one that just i know has my back it is really cool to and it's chill and it's not dramatic yes like i can't do drama no no drama no drama i really respect everything you're saying too because i relate to you in a lot of ways of like wanting so badly to be able to lean into like my career and wanting to have success and a lot of times because of again the society that we live in like a strong woman is terrifying to a lot of men or you'll be labeled a bitch or whatever the word ambitious is even bad word terrible she's so ambitious what that's a good thing even the way your face said it is how people say like she's so ambitious yeah that's exactly how people say what would you say that about a guy exactly exactly and so to hear you

talk about nick in a way that's like you finally found someone where you're like I can walk into the room just like I always have and I'm not having to be anything less than myself and I have someone that's propping me up and making me feel great is incredible so let's talk about you and Nick what initially attracted you to Nick the fact that he had the confidence to slide into my ds and ask me out. I was like, what? I mean, people slide into my DMs, but no one's ever asked me. Literally, like his message was, I've been told we should meet.

How cocky. So sexy. You're like, that's so fucking hot. Yes, we should. What did you respond? That is so fucking cocky also i love it it's also so hot because he's not even saying like i want to he's just being like i've been told i've been told we should meet i'm like okay wait what did you say i don't know for some reason i'm following him at this point he insists i was following him on twitter i don't remember that but his version of the story is that i'm following him at this point. He insists I was following him on Twitter. I don't remember that.

But his version of the story is that I was following him. Hence, he slid into my DMs. But Kevin had watched Quantico, Nick's older brother, and had told Nick, like, you guys should meet. And I was doing my TV show Quantico at that time. And I had a co-actor called Graham. And he had done a movie with Nick, and he was like, you guys should meet.

Again, I was in a relationship at that point, and so was Nick, but my co-actors hated my boyfriend at the time because I would always be on the phone in tears, and they'd be waiting for me. They're like, get out of there, Priyanka. They were like, you need to get out of this fucking relationship because I was always crying. And so they were always trying to be like okay found this new guy

this guy so my co-actor graham he was like you know you must meet nick he's so lovely you guys would really get on i didn't take this seriously because i was in the throes of my tumultuous relationship at that point but he slid into my dms and i was like okay like any self-respecting girl i googled him and i was like let's find out one night room service me and google and guess what came up this video called close Close. And I didn't know. I mean, I knew of the Jonas Brothers, but I... Different generations also. I also didn't really know.

I grew up in India, you know. I was doing like Indian pop culture at that time. I didn't know about the music as much. So I wanted to Google it. And I was like, okay, he looks great in his photo so i need to like know and this video for close comes up and i immediately send him my number you're like yup sold at least a date that body deserves at least a day you're like the dm was one thing this body that video his voice that song still every time he

sings that song on stage for me like i get weak in my i get weak in the knees it's just that's so good they were both amazing in that video it's such a good story it's so hot i love like the audacity of him to just slide in and then i love i'm picturing you like in the hotel room like sleuthing glass of wine it's so relatable like looking up who he's dated where he is where does he live and then i actually landed on the home page i did nick jonas close came up and i was like sold i didn't even need to look at any other shit i don't give a fuck who we date who's dated right we're talking about the future i always say this i don't read my book backwards like i i believe you know you go forward in your chapters

there's a reason you've left people behind if they're supposed to come into your life that you will they will don't fight it but so i landed on that video and i saw it and I had to like open the window or something. I was like, dang. You're like, where are you tonight? So my response to him after seeing that video was, why don't you text me? My team can see my DMs. Oh, you're like, this is about to get sexual. No, but I didn't want him to think I was giving him my number.

So the reason was my team. Right, but I didn't want him to think I was giving him my number. So the reason was my team. Right, right, right. Because I didn't want to be like, here, take my number. I just saw the video for close. Like I'm wet over here. I've been watching. I've watched it 17 times. If you go to your search history that night, it was like, reply, reply, reply.

So I kind of was like trying to play it cool, you know. It's so good. When did you know, once you guys started dating, when did you know he was the one? I didn't. He did. I was still trying to catch up. The thing with Nick is anyone who knows him will know this about him. You will play catch up with Nick because he's a leader.

He's like, he'll take you and envelope you in this cloud of Nick nickname and you just kind of go with it. He's an experienced guy. Whatever happens around him will be amazing. It's just, it's like, and all his friends will tell you this, but it's just, you like, just go with it. And that's what happened when, you know, he, and I finally went on a date. I was out of my relationship. I think he was out of his.

We'd been trying to meet a couple of times. He had asked me out on one of our first dates to the White House for, yeah, didn't go that day. He went with Jonathan Tucker. Damn it, Tucker. Yeah, because I was filming. But he still makes fun of me. He was like, can you imagine what a story that would have been? Like our first date was Obama's last like dinner or whatever president obama's last dinner yeah didn't go but we got

married so that's a better story so it did work out but like it would have been the perfect story dm to close to then all to the white house white house it's like the most perfect story there had to be a little bump yeah so you didn't go to the white house but you got married we did we did he texted me because now we had each other's number and we had randomly been texting and i had gone to bangladesh for a unicef trip and i was posting about it on my instagram and he texted me just talking about how inspired he was by my UNICEF work. And just like he was just very sweet about this part of my life, which is important to me. But, you know, I don't lead with that.

But it's like it's a big part of my life. And he was very insightful about it. So that softened my cold, icy heart at that point a little bit. And then he was like, hey, I'm going to see Beauty and the Beast with a bunch of my friends why don't you bring a friend along and we'll go he's so smart he knew if he said come with friends and i'm going with friends and now he admits it he was like he actually was asking me out but he just like batted it with friends so i don't feel smart so smart very smooth and we you know saw beauty and the beast and um we went out to dinner after and we spent like eight hours that day together and um it was a magical evening and nothing

happened dropped me to my hotel room and i remember being just so giddy and it was late at night we were with all his friends who all are amazing people like who is this man surrounded by great people family guys hang out with their brothers like they smoke cigars have tequila that's their worst vice play golf and love sports love like kids love parents their parents like what I was like where do you what this this got there's something wrong here I was like there's got to be something wrong here anyway I was really taken that day and the next day he asked me to go so funny ask an Indian girl to go for a baseball game like Like, I don't know baseball, man. What are you talking about? And I'm like, shit, is it close to cricket? Is it the same thing?

I don't even know cricket properly. Like, wait, how do I make conversation? I was so stressed out. My cousin, her daughter, my best friend were getting dressed. I wore a dress. I was like, listen, I'm wearing a dress. I wore little kitten heels because I was like, I not doing sneakers I'm not a sports girl and at that time I wasn't at all anyway we go to the Dodgers game and it was him and I and I did not need to know

baseball I did not need to know anything he talked talked me through it. He got me snacks. He made jokes. I tried to bring the side cap in and he was like, it'll never come back, Priya. Don't try. He made me laugh. He made me feel safe. He did not make me feel like I was ignorant about this game that I didn't know anything about. He taught me. He showed me the rules.

Oh, that night, like we were together till two o'clock in the morning and then every day we just met and the next day he was like come to the studio again it's my he's so now i knowing him i'm like i see what you did he was like come to the studio next day and i was like yeah sure i've been to studios i was a pop star once for four singles um yeah it's a little different i was like jonas brother i didn't know that till i went there and i took my best friend at the time and i took her and we went there and he was just envision this for a Broadway show that he has written about Curious George written so he's composing this music and these singers are singing and I swear I felt my knees just like buckle for a second

and you know I was like oh I had a meeting so I had to leave and I was like okay I'm gonna go but I think that was the day I knew that I always knew I had to marry someone that inspired me I always knew that I would marry someone that made me awestruck his talent makes me awestruck just watching him communicate through music just like I I it's like it's magical I feel like it's magical as I'm listening to you talk about what you witness I I'm like, I can't fucking imagine just walking. I know, you're so right. He knew what he was doing. He knew what he was doing.

He just happened to be in that studio. While there was 20 gospel choir people singing just the most musical, magical. He knew totally what he was doing. And it worked, man. It worked, yeah. We're not mad at you, Nick. We just. We admire it.

We admire it. We admire the planning. we see it we see it we see it now we see it five years later yes yes but who gives a shit it's fucking great i love how you brought up the jonas brother thing because it's like that is how they come off of like this like wholesome family that just happened to get famous these boys from new jersey they're just like doing their thing what is it like being a part of this like brotherhood essentially? They're so great. I mean, I never, my brother and I were seven years apart,

so we didn't have that relationship. I was a grown up when he was still a kid. But these guys like the brother thing is crazy. I always had like sisters and cousins. Like brothers like say mean stuff to each other and still love each other I'm like why are you so mean and he's like it's my brother I'm like oh it's like that's such a weird thing they do but they love each other you know and they're like and like just means and like take the piss of each other and I don't know I don't know sisters do that um but

it's it's so beautiful like I wanted I've always wanted a big family I come from a big family but I wanted a big family that is supportive and loves each other and my in-laws and um you know my my brother-in-laws and like our whole family when my Indian side and theirs comes together. It's just like a big old family. And, like, who would have thought that the normalcy with which they operate, the simple things, I'm so amazed at it every time because I would have thought with, you know, I found out a lot more about

the Jonas Brothers and their history when you know their documentary came out with Happiness Begins I knew of it my mother-in-law talked to me about stories from back in the day and I'd obviously seen like clips here and there you know of the fact that they had insane like fandom when they were very young like at 13 or whatever but when i saw that stuff and even when i go to their shows now their fans are so amazing and invested and they mean so much to these people that have grown up with them that they have grown up with it's just so and i i mean i feel a certain sense like that with you know my fans who've seen me from my first movie to now, like Citadel or Love Again. It's like they've been on this ride with me. And but their sense

of normalcy, like the most normal, fun people. It is really cool to sit down with you and hear the way you talk about your husband and his family but also you like getting to know you today was so refreshing and cool because again kind of like you said in the interview we see shit online and you can like speculate how someone's gonna be but it's really nice to sit with you and I know the Daddy Gang my fans are gonna like be geeking over this interview because you are so warm and you are so strong at the same time and you just have this like confidence about you that I feel like everyone's like oh I want to have that confidence like Priyanka it's also really cool your career how much pride you have in yourself of how hard you've worked and I think it's like you should have that and it's really fucking cool

to sit with you and like hear from like where you started eating your doritos in the bathroom to now being like oh i have two movies like here you go like love again and citadel are out right now like you can go watch like it's just a cool full circle moment to see like you really can accomplish whatever you want if you just put your mind to it can you talk to us a little bit about the movies because daddy gang is gonna go on a watch they're gonna want daddy gang show up for me let's go can you tell me what it was like to work with Celine Dion um she's amazing she's so fabulous she's playing herself in this movie it comes out mother's day and it's you know do you love rom-coms yes like a good old you remember like the 90s rom-coms. Yes, of course. Like a good old, you remember like the 90s rom-coms like Jerry Maguire, Sleepless in Seattle, like those movies

that just made you feel fields. Yes. This is that. My character loses her fiance. He dies. And she's so sad and broken up about it that she starts texting his old phone. And that phone belongs to Sam Heughan's character.

And he starts getting messages from me that I'm sending to my dead boyfriend. And obviously we meet, we fall in love and Celine helps us come together and she orchestrates, she's playing herself, he's a journalist, and she orchestrates us meeting. But it's such a fun, sweet premise. It warms your heart. It like, when I watched it,

it was, I was just like, people need to make more rom-coms. You know, and I don't even like watching my own movies, but this was just so heartwarming and it's such a fun, sweet movie. I'm so happy because I was just complaining to a friend of mine being like, I need a good

rom-com. Yeah. Something that feeds your soul. Yes. Yes. Well, thank God. Thank God you're giving it to us because I know Daddy Gang, you're going to go watch and enjoy and do all the things. But Priyanka, I can't thank you enough for coming on. This was truly such a pleasure.

Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure. Thank you for asking like insightful. I have to tell you this though, before I came onto your show. Oh God. I wish this was vodka. What are you about to say? Everyone around me was like,

do you want a drink? Would you like, before I came on your show, do you want a cocktail? Just like ease out a little bit. And I'm like, what, what is it?

Like they were like just you know she she like she goes in goes there you know she goes everywhere and you're not a goer and i'm like i'm a goer i could i could go i'm i'll fuck with that what i'm gonna wear my sneakers and my sweats i don't know come in and i'll answer her questions. But I have to tell you, like people love your show and people love what you stand for. And I really think that you have a daddy gang because you're such a smart, strong girl. I get interviewed a lot, but it matters to me when someone asking the question actually has read up on done their research and actually treats me like a human being rather than just a subject and um that's why you have the love that you do because that's what you do for your people priyanka you're gonna make me cry no thank you so much i think it's

really important to me that like i've sat in interviews before and i'm like you don't even like care that you don't even know what you're asking me exactly and it feels very isolating in that moment that like then you start to question like this industry and your life and you're like it just it's just not fun to do it and I also like I'm obsessed with just getting to know people so I appreciate you going there even though you're like I haven't been in therapy I don't fucking know I'm like I actually really want to uh we're gonna we're gonna yeah i have to find someone it doesn't seem like you fucking need it you're like i know the exact plan of how i get through my issues and then i'm so far i've done that but i've heard it's great it's great you can try it as a little

experiment but if not i think you're doing just fucking fine i'm okay but i will i will i will i'll report back okay okay thank you so much thank you for having me