Freezing eggs, age gap, and colourism: Priyanka Chopra reveals Bollywood struggles in podcast interview

Priyanka Chopra was at her articulate best with Dax Shepherd on his podcast 'Armchair Expert'. She did not mince words as she opened up about the struggles she faced in Bollywood before making a splash in Hollywood. Chopra, on being asked why she started looking for work in the US, said, "I was being pushed into a corner in the industry. I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, and I am not good at playing that game so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break. This music thing gave me an opportunity to go into another part of the world, not crave the movies I didn't want to get but I would require to schmooze certain clubs and cliques of people. It would require grovelling and I had worked a long time by then that I didn't feel like I wanted to do it."

She also touched upon various critical issues plaguing actresses around the globe. First up is colourism. Chopra Jonas allegedly faced colourism, a common issue across Indian and other Asian entertainment industries, and spoke about how her skin was lightened in movies due to fairer skin tones being preferred as the ideal beauty standard. "When I joined the movie business, if you were fair, you were guaranteed some sort of success or casting, but if you were darker... and I'm not even that dark. For darker girls, it was like, well, let's lighten you up. I was lightened up in many movies," she told Shephard.

She also spoke about endorsing fairness creams: The star, who is married to Nick Jonas, shared that the make-up put on her and bright lighting used were all designed to make her skin tone lighteron screen. Priyanka added, "We were taught that damaging [expletive]. Even I got caught up into it and I look back on that, the commercial was so damaging. I'm darker skinned and this guy comes in, selling flowers, and he doesn't even look at me. I start using this cream and I get a job, I get the guy and all my dreams come true. That was like the mid-2000s," she said. (Above: Priyanka with Team Citadel).

Here are the other issues she touched upon. Children: The actress revealed that froze her eggs in her early 30s as her mother Madhu Chopra, who is an obstetrician-gynaecologist, advised her. "I felt such freedom, I did it in my early thirties and I could continue on an ambitious warpath, I wanted to achieve, and I wanted to get to a certain place in my career," Priyanka, who welcomed her first child Malti Marie via surrogacy in 2022.

Age gap with Nick Jonas: Chopra also shared that she did not want to date Nick Jonas at the beginning because she was unsure whether he would want to have kids at 25. "I always knew I wanted kids and that was one of the reasons I didn't want to date Nick because I was like I don't know if he would want kids at 25. "I love kids, I have worked with kids at Unicef, I have volunteered at kids' hospitals, I am like a kid whisperer, and I would rather spend time with children than with adults. I love kids, all our parties are kids and dogs friendly, at our house, you can bring them anytime," she added.

Her podcast won her fans. Actor Kangana Ranaut came out in support of Chopra, who recently opened up about her exit from Bollywood. Supporting Priyanka and taking an indirect jibe at filmmaker Karan Johar, Kangana shared a picture with Priyanka on her Instagram story. In the picture, the 'Fashion' actors are seen holding hands together. Kangana wrote, "Truth remains Cruella has done big favour on us by bullying and isolating us... PC became a Hollywood star and I produced and directed my own film which is releasing this year..." In a tweet thread, Kangana attacked the director, saying, "This obnoxious, jealous, mean and toxic person should be held accountable for ruining the culture and environment of the film industry which was never hostile to outsiders in the days of AB or SRK. His gang and mafia PR should be raided and held accountable for harassing outsiders..."

Chopra's overseas manager Anjula Acharia has reacted to all the uproar caused by the actress's revelations. Acharia had told Forbes back in 2021 that how a Bollywood director-producer and some members of the fraternity advised her against signing with Priyanka. Anjula tweeted, "Naysayers are just noise! You have to tune it out @priyankachopra is undeniable and we proved them all wrong :))) I knew she would be a global star the first time I saw her on TV."

In the past, Chopra has also batted for equal pay: The actress revealed in a BBC interview Amazon Prime Video series 'Citadel' is the first time she ever received equal pay as her male co-stars in her 20-year-long career. "I've never had pay parity in Bollywood”, The Independent reported Priyanka as saying in the interview for BBC's 100 Women. "I would get paid about 10 per cent of the salary of my male co-actor… My generation of female actors have definitely asked [for equal pay]," she added. "We've asked, but we've not got it."

Sexism: Priyanka detailed other ways in which she contended against sexism while working on Bollywood productions. "I thought it was absolutely ok to sit for hours and hours on set, while my male co-actor just took his own time, and decided whenever he wanted to show up on set is when we would shoot," she said. Here's proof that all her struggles were worth it as she has now conquered the West.