Priyanka Chopra can still remember when a film director suggested that she undergo plastic surgery to launch a successful film career.
That was in 2000 when the then 18-year-old Miss World crown took home and immediately started playing. And according to the now 38-year-old, the first person she met insisted that she should have a “boob job” and fix her “proportions”. Her then manager agrees with the assessment.
Chopra reveals her experience in a new autobiography titled “Unfinished.”
“It is so normalized that it cannot be discussed,” she told the UK’s Metro on Monday. “I was talking about a movie I walked out of because of the way I spoke through the director. It was early in my career, but I never told him why I walked out.
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Miss World 2000 winner, Miss India, Priyanka Chopra (18) during the Miss World contest at The Millennium Dome.
(Photo by Michael Crabtree – PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images)
“I never had the courage to stand up for myself, and actually admit it,” Chopra continued. “Because I’ve heard so often, ‘Don’t bother, you’re new to the industry, you do not want a reputation for causing problems or for not being easy.’ Now on the other hand … I know it’s a normalized thing that girls hear so often.
“I also fell for it, even though I considered myself a forward-thinking, smart girl. I learned from it over time, but at that time I was terrified. Yes, then I met it, as I am with all of you in patriarchal industries, which have been ours for a very long time. ‘
According to the outlet, Chopra was asked for the first time to ‘stand up and turn for the director’.
“He stared at me long and hard and judged me, and then suggested I get a boob job, fix my jaw and give a little more cushioning to my butt,” Chopra wrote in her book. “If I wanted to be an actress, he said, I would have to ‘fix’ my relationships, and he knew a great doctor in LA could send me. My then manager expressed his agreement with the assessment. “
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Indian actress Priyanka Chopra attends her tribute on Jemaa El Fnaa Square during the 18th Marrakech International Film Festival on December 5, 2019 in Marrakech.
(Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP via Getty Images)
“I was stunned and petty by the director / producer’s office,” Chopra shared. “Did he think I would not be successful unless I ‘fixed’ so many body parts? I thought about how individuals in the media and others in the industry make me ‘dark’ and ‘different’ and I wondered if I was cut out for this business. ‘
Chopra said she did not listen to the director’s advice and rather divorced her then manager.
Today, Chopra is grateful that more women are involved and collaborating in the entertainment industry.
“… We are that generation that will hopefully see women in leadership roles, that will see women in power roles so that the next generation we follow does not have to inherit these issues,” Chopra said.
“… The show I did, ‘Quantico’, I was the first South Asian ever [front] a network TV show, in 2015, “she shared.” It was crazy to think about it. For me, if I had, I might not have been so insecure in the hallways of my high school, or felt like I was so different. ‘