10 things to know about Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ book ‘Unfinished: A Memoir’

On February 9, Indian actress and global icon Priyanka Chopra Jonas will become a published author of her own memoir ‘Unfinished’. Before you get down to reading her highly personal book, here are 10 things to know about it.

1. Priyanka Chopra Jonas began writing ‘Unfinished’ in earnest when the world went into a lockdown following the outbreak of COVID-19. Chopra Jonas, like millions around the world, was suddenly confined to her home in Los Angeles. During the social-distancing phase, she realised that there could be no better time to pen her thoughts down on paper. But the original idea of a writing a collection of personal essays and experiences sprang up in 2018. In a recent tweet, she posted a small video clip of an interview that she had done with Vogue, where she first began talking about her plans of writing her own book.

2. The book was originally going to be called “Letters to my younger self”.

3. The book will trace Chopra Jonas’ remarkable 20-year-long journey as an actor, producer and her stint as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. “I am a product of traditional India and its ancient wisdom, and modern India and its urban bustle. My upbringing was always an amalgamation of the two Indians, and, just as much, of East and West,” Chopra Jonas said in a statement. The book will touch upon her nomadic childhood in India, her formative teenage years in the United States, her brush with racism, winning global beauty pageants, her Bollywood breakthrough and her career in the West.

4. Her book will adopt a warts-and-moles approach. She touches upon the tough bits in her life such as encountering bullying while studying briefly in Boston and how she refused to see a therapist when she lost her father to cancer in 2013. “In my 30s I allowed myself to mourn more, but I still run away from anything that might hurt me,” said Chopra Jonas in an interview with Innews.co.uk.

5. Her book took shape when she touched upon her two decade work anniversary. “When I decided to write it, I was coming up to 20 years of being in the business. So I wanted to commemorate those 20 years of my life in entertainment and I kind of wanted to write something like letters to my younger self,” said Chopra Jonas in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. (Pictured: Priyanka Chopra in one of her breakthrough movies, 2008's 'Fashion'.)

6. Chopra Jonas found the process of writing a book cathartic and deeply personal. In several of her interviews conducted for her book tour, she has claimed the memoir forced her to dig deep into her emotions and face all the emotional ‘baggage’ that she had kept repressed.

7. Her book is dedicated to her late father Dr Ashok Chopra. His death in 2013 after his battle with cancer was one of her darkest chapters in her life.

8. Her book also touches upon issues such as being woman in an entertainment industry and the gender-based injustices such the wage gap that she faced in her career. (Pictured: Chopra Jonas in the TV show 'Quantico'.)

9. But the book isn’t all intense, inspiring and work-centric. She goes into the details of her whirlwind affair with her husband and pop star Nick Jonas and how he swept her off her feet.

10. The book is available online starting February 9.