"I was thrown into it."
Priyanka Chopra Jonas admitted that she “never wanted” to enter pageantry.
Before joining the Indian film industry, Priyanka was crowned the winner of the 2000 Miss World beauty pageant.
Previous Bollywood celebrities including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sushmita Sen have also excelled in pageantry.
Aishwarya won the 1994 Miss World competition, while Sushmita took home the top spot at the Miss Universe pageant the same year.
Detailing her thoughts, Priyanka said: “In my country, pageants are really revered, they’re really looked up to, especially the Miss India pageant and the Miss World pageant.
“There was like a decade, winners back to back from my country.
“I was interested when India participated and our family would watch, it was really fun.
“I remember, 1993 or 1994, Miss Universe and Miss World Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen were both from India.
“I had the little snippets from the newspapers, in like a collage in my room.
“It wasn’t like I wanted to be them. I was just like, ‘Wow, look at these young women, they are doing so well on a global scale’.
“So I was always curious about that, but I never wanted to go after it.
“So, when I was thrown into it, I really believed in destiny’s child and I don’t fight it.”
Winning the pageant certainly opened doors for Priyanka. Her victory helped her garner notice and attention.
The actress debuted in Bollywood with The Hero: The Love Story of a Spy (2003).
She later expanded her horizons and began appearing in the American thriller series Quantico (2015).
Priyanka married the singer Nick Jonas in 2018 and they welcomed a daughter via surrogacy in 2022.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas recently discussed how she and Nick adapted to each other’s cultures.
She explained: “He loved everything India, and I grew up in the States, it was literally my second home.
“So we embraced each other’s cultures in a big way. But it was the cultural things that were different.
“Before you finish your sentence, I know what you are saying so I am just going to tell you.
“That’s just how we are culturally. We are just like, ‘Let’s just go!’
“We are loud and everyone speaks over each other.
“So for Nick, he had to learn to cut people off, he had to learn to speak over everyone.
“He is like, ‘Aye, I am saying this!’ I had to learn how to wait, let someone finish their sentence.
“I’m like, ‘I know what you are saying but I’ll wait for you to finish’.”
On the work front, the actress will next star in Heads of State with Idris Elba and John Cena.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas was due to make her Bollywood comeback with Jee Le Zaraa, co-starring Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt.
However, it has been rumoured that the star exited the project due to dissatisfaction with the script.
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