Priyanka Chopra Jonas has opened up about the "dark phase" she suffered after a surgery gone wrong that made her unrecognizable even to herself in the early 2000s.
At just 18 years old, she swept as Miss World, and Priyanka Chopra's career was catapulted. The actress began working in numerous Bollywood productions in her country and she would soon begin planning her jump to Hollywood, as she had lived in the United States for several years of her adolescence.
However, Priyanka faced a severe blow due to a medical complication that plunged her into depression by changing her face, and she has now reminisced about that time on the Howard Stern show.
"It was a dark period. This thing happens, and my face is completely different, and I went into a deep, deep depression," she confesses.
The actress assures that she was clear that her career had ended "before it began", and that she was fired from three films after what happened. Priyanka says that she was not able to leave the house, until her father, who is a doctor, convinced her to have another operation and corrective surgery.
"I was terrified of that, but he told me, 'I'll be with you in the operating room.' And he held my hand through the whole process and helped me build my confidence again," she says.
The actress also thanks Bollywood director Anil Sharma for not sacking her like the others.
"I was supposed to be playing a role, and they changed me to a supporting role. The director was very nice, and while all the tide was against me, he said, 'It will be a small role but you give everything you have'. And he did it. I did," Chopra recalls.
The story of her operation first came to light thanks to her memoir, 'Unfinished', where Priyanka dared to recount her experience.
After being crowned Miss World 2000, she began having flu-like symptoms and a "very bad nose infection," which resulted in trouble breathing that she couldn't ignore as an asthmatic, she says.
Then, a doctor found a polyp in her nasal cavity, and they told her they had to remove it with "a completely routine operation", unfortunately, she didn't turn out as expected.
"While ripping off the polyp, the doctor accidentally ripped the septum of my nose, and everything fell apart. When it was time to remove the bandages and the condition of my nose was revealed, my mother and I were horrified.", recalls Priyanka with a cracking voice.
"My original nose was gone. My face was completely different. It was no longer me," she recalls, assuring that she felt "devastated and hopeless." "Every time I looked in the mirror, a stranger stared back at me, and I didn't think my self-esteem would ever recover."
But with time and work on herself (and many other surgeries to fix the terrible accident) she was regaining her confidence and accepting her new face, which she "has already gotten used to".
"Now when I look in the mirror, I'm no longer surprised, I've made my peace with this slightly different 'me'. This is my face. This is my body. I may have flaws, but it's me," ends the actress.
