In a detailed chat with renowned fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg for her podcast, InCharge with DVF, Priyanka Chopra Jonas spoke at length about her relationship with husband Nick Jonas, how living in America and India shaped her as an individual, her journey to Miss World and Bollywood and her desire to taste motherhood.
‘Nick feels empowered when he sees me empowered’
“I do feel like I ended up marrying a version of my dad,” said Priyanka and added, “They say, if you are close to your father, you end up marrying a guy similar to your father and Nick is… He is the life of a party, he always have friends around him, he will make people laugh, he is super thoughtful, conscientious and kind.”
While sharing how she would often erase herself in her relationships until she met her husband Nick Jonas, Priyanka revealed how Nick cherishes all the moments when she is shining bright. “He feels empowered when he sees me empowered. Like he will stand on a side of the carpet and watch them (paps) taking pictures (of me). Like, he wants to see the work that I have done and feels so proud. He loves my success... We had written five things that we love about each other and the first thing he said was - your ambition. I had never heard a guy say that to me before.”
‘Living between India and America shaped me’
In her childhood, Priyanka often moved around from one part of the country to another because her parents were doctors in the Indian Army. But, when she moved to America, she was fascinated by the country and the lives of her cousins. “I was fascinated by the fact that my cousins do not have to wear uniforms to school and they could be friendly with boys... My mom never cared but the society, in general, would always be a little (intrusive)... I suddenly came here and found myself in charge of my own life,” she said about the time she decided to attend schools in the United States and live with her aunt. “Living between America and India sort of made me an amalgamation of the East and the West. I can go anywhere in the world and be anyone. I'm not afraid of different cultures or languages. I'm an explorer of life and that happened because, at such a young age, I chose to live in a completely different country without my parents. And, that made me feel fearless. I think that was the first time that I realized that I could shape my life by taking difficult decisions, which may be daunting and scary, but when you jump into it, you can figure it out,” Priyanka said in the podcast while informing that she always wanted to be an engineer.
'I am very competitive'
“But my pictures were sent to Miss India, and somehow they picked me. And I'm very competitive. So once I was in, I wanted to win. And when I won Miss India, they send you for the international pageant. And I was sent for Miss World, and I won that as well,” she said and added that working in Bollywood wasn’t really a cakewalk and it took her a couple of years to figure things out.
In her career spanning two decades, Priyanka has given noteworthy performances in films like Kaminey, 7 Khoon Maaf, Barfi!, Mary Kom and Bajirao Mastani to name a few. “My work has been the greatest rock in my life. It’s like a plant – if you keep feeding it, it becomes a tree and gives you shadow. My work has been that."
Speaking about her future plans, Priyanka says, “I want to be able to have an audience of the world who may not know my work get introduced to me as an artist. And I also want to taste motherhood. I want to be able to do both."
On the work front, Priyanka, who was last seen in The Sky Is Pink, is currently working on a comedy project about an Indian-American wedding with Mindy Kaling, a TV show with the Russo brothers, writing her book Unfinished while also working on Maa Anand Sheela's biopic, and an adaptation of The White Tiger with Rajkummar Rao.
The podcast, InCharge with DVF, streams on Spotify