Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra has opened up about one of her first dates with now husband Nick Jonas and has revealed how Nick proved he respects her hard work. Priyanka was speaking at the Women in World Summit 2019 that concludes Friday.
Sharing an anecdote from one of their initial dates, Priyanka said they were out with a few friends and she kept dropping hints that she needs a reason to cancel a meeting she had. “I said it twice. I said it thrice. And finally he pulled me aside and was like, ‘Look, I’m not stupid, I know what you’re trying to do. But I will never be the one that tells you to cancel work, because I know how hard you work to be where you are. If you could have cancelled the meeting, you would have done it.”
Nick then offered to take the group out to dinner so that they could wait for her to finish her meeting, Priyanka added. “I was like, this is the first (time) anyone has ever done that for me, the first person who gave me credit for what I have done,” she said. Priyanka and Nick got married last year in twin ceremonies following Hindu and Christian traditions
“I am a wild child, I do whatever I want whenever I want and he always supports me,” Priyanka said. She also spoke about her lavish wedding and said, “at the end we got the bill,” hinting at the huge cost the ceremonies must have cost.
Priyanka also said she is glad that the #MeToo movement happened and women came together for each other. Priyanka said, “Sexual harassment had become a norm with women,” she said. “Now because of the support we are giving each other, people don’t have the power to shut us down.”
Earlier, talking about the sexual harassment in the film industry, Priyanka had said she faced power harassment, not sexual harassment. “I am very fierce. People are a little bit scared of me. When I walk into a room, I make sure that no one can… Yes, I have had situations when I have been thrown out of films because someone else was recommended… A girlfriend was recommended after I was signed for a movie. So, that’s an abuse of power… Girlfriend of the hero or girlfriend of the director….I was treated in a different way because I commanded that, and it was because I had the strength and support of my family,” Priyanka said in December 2017.
Priyanka was also asked how she has managed to transition into Hollywood. She said, “A lot of actors that I speak to don’t have ambitions to move out of the industry. Bollywood is the biggest, if not the first industry to make films and the demographic is so large, they don’t want to leave that.” She also talked about stereotyping of South Asian actors. “I played ethnically ambiguous parts,” she said. “It took me all those ethnically ambiguous parts to be where I am today. I did not want to do stereotype roles because then all you will see is what I already know I can do. I am Indian, I can do that.”
