Jay Shetty & Priyanka Chopra Jonas ON Fame, Motherhood And Love

What does it mean to reach the highest level of international success in two different worlds and still find yourself searching for a deeper, more sustainable sense of peace?

In this On Purpose episode, Jay Shetty's guest was Priyanka Chopra Jonas, an award-winning global actor, producer, and entrepreneur, who has led at the highest levels of both Bollywood and Hollywood, boasting over 60 films to her name and a consistent presence on Time's list of the 100 most influential people. In this conversation, she opened up about her experience moving from Bollywood to Hollywood, starting fresh, and becoming a mother and wife.

Finding the Luxury of Peace

In the last decade, Chopra Jonas' life has taken many turns, since she left behind her successful life as a Bollywood star and started fresh in the United States. However, she told Jay Shetty that her greatest treasures in life are her daughter and her newfound sense of peace. She used to move at an incredible speed, because it was the only pace she knew since starting in the pageant and film industry at a young age.

Chopra Jonas told Jay Shetty that she used to live from one gig to the next, and felt trapped in a cycle of constant movement to the next best thing, not knowing how to escape it. After moving countries, getting married, and welcoming her daughter, she has found a sense of peace both with her achievements and the goals she hasn't yet reached.

While earlier in her life she was greedier and more ambitious, Chopra Jonas now prioritizes nesting and the simple joys of seasonal pantry organization. Peace is the ultimate goal, and she is happy that she can now spend as much time as she wants with those she loves, rather than treating it like a currency.

Balancing Work and Life

Priyanka Chopra Jonas's career took many turns; she left Bollywood at the peak of her career to move to Hollywood. However, all those pivots felt forced upon her by her team, and she needed to survive in a tough world; now she is again in control of her life and circumstances.

Chopra Jonas told Jay Shetty that she used to think the sky would fall if she ever stopped working, and that this work mentality is very common in Indian culture and is passed down from one generation to another. While it instills discipline, it also makes it extremely difficult for people to relax when the opportunity arises.

Having learned to balance work and leisure is a massive privilege for Chopra Jonas, and she admitted that she only truly began to indulge this year. While she continues to consider work as necessary for survival, she can finally enjoy other areas of life and the equilibrium between them.

Having a Supportive Partner

Priyanka Chopra Jonas was impressed by Nick Jonas's sincerity and honesty on camera, calling it "disarming" and "inspiring". She admits to Jay Shetty that after decades in a public-facing profession and a background in pageants, she became highly skilled at deflecting personal questions to protect herself. Yet her husband's candor helped her connect with her own feelings, and she learned to articulate them more clearly.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas credits her husband for providing a sense of ease and comfort that makes even life's toughest challenges easier to handle. She revealed that, 10 years ago, she wouldn't have been able to achieve this level of emotional transparency.

A Metamorphosis through Motherhood

When it comes to parenting their daughter, Chopra Jonas told Jay Shetty that she is the one who enforces rules and manages the schedule, although both she and Nick Jonas try to remain on the same page. To her, parenting is a beautiful collaboration, and they always align on how to navigate various situations before taking action.

Becoming a mother was a complete metamorphosis for Chopra Jonas; her entire personality changed in ways she couldn't have anticipated. She added that no amount of self-work prepares you for the incredible change that parenting brings, and for how priorities and personality shift once you have a child.

But the transformation taught Priyanka Chopra Jonas a level of patience she didn't have before. She explained that, while she remains a fast-moving decision-maker in her professional life, raising a toddler taught her that you are never in complete control of life, and that something unexpected can happen at any time.

Healing Through Therapy

Priyanka Chopra Jonas admitted to Jay Shetty that therapy allowed her to reflect on how she used to be very hard on herself. She believes that mental health tools are extremely important. She now knows to stop a mental spiral by asking herself whether the thought she is having in the moment is constructive. If it isn't, then she would try to let it go.

Another important realization for Chopra Jonas was that thoughts are not facts, and that allowed her to strip the power away from anxiety and beratement. The mind is a storyteller, Jay Shetty explained, and it creates illusions; it's not a truth-seeker, even though it may lead us to believe that thoughts are real.

Chopra Jonas' husband taught her to value opening up and talking about her feelings over jumping straight to solutions during an argument. She admitted to Jay Shetty that it was mind-blowing for her to talk about her feelings, coming from a culture where they were dismissed as weakness, and you were expected to be tough.

From Icon to Auditioner

Priyanka Chopra Jonas opened up about her transition from being a celebrity in the Indian film industry to a newcomer in the American entertainment industry. She explained that, while she had a lot of success in Bollywood, she often felt limited in her work, and the only way to overcome this limitation was to move.

Her manager encouraged her to try pop music, working with artists like will.i.am and Pitbull. She told Jay Shetty that her experience allowed her to breathe again, even though she thought she was mediocre at it. Then, she pivoted back to acting and started going to auditions again, with many other women who were there for the same part, a new experience given her fame back in India.

Overcoming Personal and Professional Challenges

This transition period was personally traumatic and dark for Priyanka Chopra Jonas, as it coincided with her father's passing. She told Jay Shetty that trying to build a new life in a foreign country is no walk in the park; she remembers the loneliness of living in hotel rooms, out of her suitcase, and disconnected from her loved ones.

Despite the massive success in India, Chopra Jonas had to work with acting coaches in the United States to master delivering lines in English, as she was used to improvising in Hindi. It was a challenging time, she admitted to Jay Shetty, but she credits her team and a few close friends for supporting her when she couldn't grasp her own feelings.

Her father's funeral made Chorpa Jonas realize that we often take people for granted and don't celebrate them enough while they are around. So, she started a habit of texting people to tell them she appreciates them while they are still alive.

The Miracle Baby

To Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the journey to motherhood was challenging, but her daughter, Malti Marie, is her miracle baby. When she was informed that the baby would be born early at only 27 weeks, she told Jay Shetty that she completely shut down and sat in front of a fireplace for nine hours in a state of shock.

The baby was born through a surrogate under extreme duress during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she was so small that the NICU nurses struggled to intubate her. Chopra Jonas told Jay Shetty that she and her husband worked shifts at the hospital so the baby could have skin-to-skin contact. She recalls feeling numb; however, she had to show up as a strong mother for her beloved child.

Chopra Jonas told Jay Shetty that the experience of her daughter's birth turned her into a tigress, who focused solely on her daughter's nutrition and survival. When she could finally bring her home, she wept with gratitude in front of her shrine to Lord Shiva, grateful that her little one was alive and well.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas shared with Jay Shetty that faith remains a central pillar of her life and that she has had a relationship with something larger than herself, ever since childhood. Growing up in a multicultural environment in India exposed her to various religions and belief systems. While her family is devoted to Lord Shiva, she sees faith as her safe space, where she can retreat during scary times.

More From Jay Shetty

Listen to the entire On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast episode “PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Fame, Motherhood, Love and the Moment That Changed Everything” now in the iTunes store or on Spotify. For more inspirational stories and messages like this, check out Jay’s website at jayshetty.me.