‘I chose to blow it up’: Priyanka Chopra on moving to Hollywood at the peak of Hindi film career
The 43-year-old actress also spoke about the public scrutiny surrounding her marriage to singer-actor Nick Jonas
February 12, 2026, dmanewsdesk: Actress Priyanka Chopra has said restarting her career in the West at the peak of her success in Indian cinema was a daunting choice, but she consciously stepped away from a secure career to explore opportunities internationally.
Chopra, who moved to the US around 2015, told Variety, “To restart your career in your 30s is terrifying. I was secure. I was doing well financially. I was established. And I chose to blow it up,” she said.
Chopra said she encountered stereotypes and preconceived notions during her early meetings in the West. “People would be like, ‘Oh, you speak English well.’ There was a preconceived notion of me whenever I went in for a meeting before I walked into the room,” she said.
Chopra made her Western acting debut as the lead in the television series Quantico and later featured in films such as Baywatch and The Matrix 4. She has since headlined international projects including Citadel, Heads of State and The Bluff, an upcoming pirate adventure film co-starring Karl Urban.
Chopra is set to return to Indian cinema with SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi, slated for theatrical release in April 2027. The pan-India film, described as a time-travelling adventure rooted in Indian history, will see Chopra sharing screen space with Mahesh Babu and Prithviraj Sukumaran. Her last Hindi film release was The Sky Is Pink, which released before the pandemic.
In the same interview, Chopra also opened up about public scrutiny surrounding her marriage to singer-actor Nick Jonas.
“We’re eight years in. If people want to keep waiting for it to implode, that’s their choice. I stopped thinking about it. I don’t know what was it about us that rubbed people the wrong way. I think there was the intercultural nature of it – different countries, different religions, age gap. It was very hurtful,” the 43-year-old actress said.
“And we both, instead of looking out, just sort of looked at each other, and we were like, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ So it’s like water off a duck’s back now,” she added.
Chopra and Jonas married in Rajasthan in December 2018. The couple welcomed their daughter, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas, in January 2022.
“We got married really quick, within six months of meeting. When I first married him, I didn’t know if it was even real. This part of him. Because I was like this is crazy. This is put on. But Nick has this absolute sincerity. It inspires me every day in a profession which requires you to pivot and become whatever you need to put on,” she said.
“He’s constantly sincere. His whole day, whatever the conversation is, he is sincere. He started working when he was really young. His parents are the most wonderful, levelheaded, absolute saints, so I can see where it comes from. But it’s such a disarming quality about him,” Chopra added.
Source: The Telegraph online
