Priyanka Chopra still remembers when a film director suggested that she have plastic surgery to start a successful film career.
In 2000, the then 18-year-old took home the crown of Miss World, immediately starting to act. And, according to the 38-year-old woman, the first person she met insisted that she should have a “breast lift” and correct her “proportions”. His then manager agreed to the assessment.
Chopra revealed his experience in a new autobiography entitled “Unfinished”.
“It is so normalized that it does not appear in the conversation,” she told Metro UK on Monday. “I talked about a film I left because of how the director told me. It was early in my career, but I never told him why I left.
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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 defend myself and admit it,” continued Chopra. “Because I always heard, ‘Don’t be a nuisance, you’re new to the industry, you don’t want to have a reputation that causes problems or that you’re not easy to work with.’ Now, on the other hand … I know it’s a normalized thing that girls hear so often.
“I fell for it too, although I considered myself a smart and forward-thinking girl. I learned from it over time, but at that time, I was terrified. Yes, I faced it then, like everyone else you are in patriarchal industries, which ours a long time ago.
According to the vehicle, Chopra was first asked to “get up and turn” for the director.
“He stared at me for a long time, assessing me, and then he suggested that I have a breast lift, fix my jaw and add a little more cushion to my butt,” wrote Chopra in his book. “If I wanted to be an actress, he said, I would need to have my ‘fixed’ proportions, and he knew a great doctor in LA that he could send me to. My then manager expressed his agreement with the assessment.”
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Indian actress Priyanka Chopra watches her tribute at Jemaa El Fnaa square during the 18th International Film Festival in Marrakech on December 5, 2019 in Marrakech.
(Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP via Getty Images)
“I left the director / producer office feeling stunned and small,” said Chopra. “Was he sure that I couldn’t succeed unless I had so many body parts ‘fixed’? I thought about how individuals in the media and others in the industry referred to me as ‘dark’ and ‘different looking’ and I I asked if I was cut out for this business, after all. “
Chopra said he did not heed the director’s advice and instead separated from his then manager.
Today, Chopra is grateful that more women are involved in the entertainment industry and coming together.
“… We are that generation that hopefully will see women in leadership positions, that will see women in positions of power so that the next generation that will come after us does not have to inherit these issues,” said Chopra.
“… The program I did, ‘Quantico’, was the first South Asian to [front] a TV network show in 2015, “she shared.” It was crazy to think about it. For me, if I had that, I might not have been so insecure in the hallways of my school, or felt so different. “