Priyanka Chopra says she was removed from the cinema after nose surgery

• Priyanka Chopra Jonas said she was removed from two films after a doctor damaged her nose.
• In his new memoirs, the star said he had surgery after a polyp was found in his nasal cavity.
• The doctor “accidentally scraped the bridge of my nose and the bridge collapsed,” said Chopra Jonas.
• Visit the Insider home page for more stories.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas said that an unsuccessful surgery altered her nose and had her excused from two films early in her acting career.

“I felt devastated and hopeless,” said Chopra Jonas of the surgical error in his new memoir entitled “Unfinished”, released on Tuesday.

In the book, the actress details her rise to fame, which began when she was crowned Miss India Mundo in January 2000 at the age of 17 and won the title of Miss World later that year.

After her success in the contest, Chopra Jonas started her acting career in India with a series of films. More than a decade later, she made a breakthrough in the United States when she landed the lead role in the ABC series “Quantico” – which marked the first time that a South Asian actor played the main character on an American TV show.

ABC

But before his career in the entertainment industry took off, Chopra Jonas learned in the summer of 2001 that there was a polyp (a benign tumor) in his nasal cavity that would require surgery to be removed. She first noticed the problem when she developed a “persistent cold”, followed by breathing problems.

“Fortunately, a polypectomy seemed like a pretty routine procedure. Unfortunately, it wasn’t,” wrote the actress in her memoirs.

Chopra Jonas said the doctor “unintentionally scraped the bridge of my nose and the bridge collapsed”. When the surgery was over and she looked at the result, she and her family were “horrified”.

“My original nose was gone,” recalled Chopra Jonas. “My face looked completely different. I wasn’t me.”

“Every time I looked in the mirror, a stranger looked at me, and I didn’t think my sense of identity or self-esteem would ever recover from the blow,” she added.

Gerry Penny / AFP via Getty Images

The “We Can Be Heroes” star said the situation was made worse by public scrutiny and the rumors that spread.

At the same time, Chopra Jonas’ potential acting career was put at risk when she was pulled from two of the four films she signed for after “the producers heard rumors that I looked different after the surgery”.

“As if the physical and emotional pain of the original and subsequent corrective surgeries were not enough, this was a terrible blow,” wrote Chopra Jonas, explaining that these films should be his first after his victory as Miss World.

“My career, a career based so much on physical appearance, seemed to be over before it really started,” said the actress.

Chopra’s role in the Hindi film “The Hero: A Spy’s Love Story” was also downplayed for a supporting part. She made her film debut on the fourth project she initially signed, a Tamil film titled “Thamizhan”.

The actress said the experience on the set was positive, in which she regained some of the confidence she had previously lost.

As for the nose, Chopra Jonas said it has normalized over time, after “several corrective surgeries”.

“I got used to that face,” she said. “Now, when I look in the mirror, I am no longer surprised. I made up with this slightly different self.”