On Purpose Podcast: with Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Transcript)

And often I’d just go with her and fall asleep by her leg while she was in an appointment or a meeting. I just got to see how hard my mom worked. And that, of course, has lots of benefits, as you said, in terms of building discipline and a hardworking mentality. And then at the same time, there comes a point where, when you get the privilege or the opportunity to peel back from it, you’re able to shift.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah. And it’s such a privilege. You have to work hard to survive in this life. People work really, really hard. Some people work in jobs that you might not want or be in, but you have to survive. So I take that privilege seriously. And it’s just this year, honestly.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. It’s the first time in my life —

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: First time I’m actually doing it, where you don’t want to take that moment to kind of indulge in my family. And sometimes hard working limits your mind itself to finding that balance. But if you can find that balance, that’s the dream.

On Nick Jonas and the Power of Sincerity

JAY SHETTY: Nick was here just literally, like two or three weeks ago.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: That was the best interview.

JAY SHETTY: Oh, wow.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: That’s the best interview.

JAY SHETTY: You don’t have to say that.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I had so many people who called me about it. Just hearing it — both of you — I mean, it’s who you are, but it’s also that my husband is just so sincere and honest, and it’s disarming. And to see that on camera — it was a wonderful interview.

JAY SHETTY: I was going to ask you, did you debrief? Do you both talk when you get back from these?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Not when we get back. When the clips come out. When you get back home, you’re like, “Let’s watch a movie. Talked about myself all day, can’t do that anymore.” So I don’t think we got into it. I had no idea about what you guys spoke about. But when the clips come out and I’m seeing it, then of course we talk about it.

JAY SHETTY: My favorite thing is to be sitting opposite someone who’s that sincere, because it just allows for a really genuine dialogue to come out. I’m glad that you got a chance to see it.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s easy to be that.

JAY SHETTY: No, it isn’t.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Especially in our profession — I mean, you do it differently, but when it’s a public-facing profession, you get media trained. You can’t help it.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: When you do it for long enough, you know how to navigate different questions, how to deflect from what you don’t want to answer. And I have an added layer of it because I have a pageant background, so I can really deflect.

So for me, it has always been really, really tough to reach that deep part of myself when I’m on camera. I find it uncomfortable. But it was very inspiring to watch that interview and see Nick do it. That’s the most inspiring thing about my husband for me. And which is why I give a lot of credit to being married to him — to have been able to find this ease and comfort as I navigate life. Even the tough things are kind of easier to handle because he’s with me. And it’s so different than what life was like 10 years ago.

Being able to see him do that has helped me also get in touch with my feelings a little bit more and articulate them. Both of those things were mutually exclusive for me, but now I feel them and I can talk about it. And that was a big step.

Parenting Malti: Setting the Rules

JAY SHETTY: I love that. Both of you talk so beautifully about your daughter. I was wondering — are you the strict one? Are you the chill one? Are you the fun one? As a parent, what is your go-to? If Nick’s the sincere one, what’s yours?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I’m the mom. I have to set down the rules.

JAY SHETTY: Like, “I’m doing all the hard work here.”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: No, we both do that. The good thing about our parenting — and we kind of fell into this beautifully as a rhythm together — was we always talk about how we will navigate a situation, and we are always on the same page when it comes to her. So there’s never a decision where I’ll say something and he’ll say something else. We just kind of naturally fell into that. But yes, I’m usually a little bit more about setting down the rules — you have to finish eating, you have to sleep at this time, we have to wake up for school. I make her schedule.

JAY SHETTY: One person has to do it. Someone has to take the hit.

Being Authentic in a World of Clips

JAY SHETTY: I love what you were saying about being open and honest in conversation and in the public eye, and how hard that is — especially now in a world full of clips, where everyone’s judging you off what you said in 20 seconds without any context. That’s why I think podcasting has been so revolutionary and helpful in that space. Someone can actually listen to someone for an hour, two hours, and actually make sense of what they’re saying, rather than, “Oh, I saw this 30-second clip of a three-minute interview on a TV show, and now this is my version of who you are.” Or, “I think you’re the character you play in your movies. I don’t really know who you are.”

So I wonder — why is it important for you to be yourself fully now, on an interview or on a show? Why are you even trying to do that? What would that provide for you right now?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I don’t know if I can. I’m trying it. I’m trying it out with you. You’re my guinea pig.

JAY SHETTY: I love it. This is the experiment. Amazing.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I don’t know if you’ll be able to get past that.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: But no, I think it’s the opposite. I think I have come to a place in my life where I’m more in touch with my own feelings.

JAY SHETTY: Yes. Okay.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Hence being able to be confident enough to talk about real things, versus deflecting into what I want you to think. And so now I’m like, “I’ll try it with Jay. Perfect.”

JAY SHETTY: Thank you for trusting me. Comfortable seat.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Trustworthy man.

The Journey of Self-Discovery and Letting Go

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you. That’s very kind. But it’s real. It’s such a real thing you’re talking about. It’s not easy to do that. And I think you’re so right about when you’re still trying to figure yourself out. And sometimes when you’re in the change, it’s like everyone wants to know everything about you, but it’s like you’re so in transition that you’re like, I have nothing to share.

I feel like that between when I’m writing books. So when I have a book, I have lots to talk about because I’ve just spent two, three years studying this theme and looking at the science and the research and the wisdom and all this stuff. And then people invite me on interviews. In between, I’m like, “Guys, I’ve got nothing to say,” because I’m working on new ideas. I’m building new ideas. And I don’t want to just say what I said before.

I will give you credit, though. I think you’re being a little bit hard on yourself, because I remember the last time I interviewed you, the way you spoke about your parents and what you’ve learned from them and just how much impact they’ve had on you — that not only is extremely genuine, it resonates really strongly. And I know it resonated with our audience. Like, that interview we did five years ago has, like, 3 million views.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Wow.

JAY SHETTY: And it’s like, people got so much from it. So I think you are being a bit hard on yourself, and I just want to let you off the hook a little bit. Would you say that’s been a trait of yours as well, as part of your ambition, that drive? Have you had to be hard on yourself through this?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: My therapist thinks so.

JAY SHETTY: What does your therapist say? That’s what I want to know. What is the therapy assessment?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah, that’s apparently a character trait of mine, that I’m very hard on myself. I didn’t know that. I’ve recently been really turning the lens on myself in the last few years, where I’m kind of trying to get to know this new me. There are things that I do and say where I’m like, “Wow, this would not have been my reaction, like, six years ago.”

Patience — I was not patient. I mean, I really, I’m still moving very fast. I make quick decisions. I try to be always five seconds ahead when it comes to work. But I think having a toddler will teach you patience, that it’s never in your control.

JAY SHETTY: I think that’s fine. Sometimes I think about it. I’m like, I know that the biggest personal growth I’ll ever have is having a kid.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Absolutely.

JAY SHETTY: There’s no control. Yeah. You think you’ve done all the self work and then you’ll have a child, and you’ll know exactly how powerful that will be.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: The directions your personality will change — you cannot predict. It depends on who your kid is and who they turn into. And you just become metamorphosized into this other person. In every aspect, priorities suddenly change. And everyone had told me that before, but when you’re living it, it’s really wild.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So I’m still trying to get to know this new me, who’s completely different from even the one you probably spoke about five years ago. That was before I became a parent. And so it’ll be fun to get to know her.

Discovering a New Self

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. What have you discovered so far that’s been the most surprising to you? Something that you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t know that was there.” What was something that you came across recently that stood out to you about yourself that you’ve been finding, discovering, searching?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I’m much more patient with things when they don’t work out. Like I said — or as you observed — I was very hard on myself when something wouldn’t work out, or I would just be mad. And my approach to figuring out why it didn’t go the way I needed it to go, the control that I needed to have — I feel like it’s okay to not have that. And that’s a huge change in me, because it’s affected every aspect of my life: how I interact with human beings, how I approach work that I take on, definitely how I parent, even how I am at home.

It’s made me self-sufficient. It’s made me rely on myself a little bit more. It’s created a sense of confidence — which, again, this is something that I have preached. My mind knows it, but I was never able to implement it for myself. Which was, you know, when you’re holding on to something really, really tight, you know you’re exhausting your muscles. So tiring.

And that’s people who like to control things — alpha personalities, the “it has to go my way” types. And maybe that was how I achieved what I did, and my ambition showed itself in being a control freak, almost like holding on really tight. But that’s something I’ve really consciously and subconsciously worked on, as soon as I recognized the ease of letting the universe kind of push you in the direction you’re meant to go.

And then within that, of course, work hard every day to achieve your goals through the day. But it’s okay if once in a while it doesn’t turn out to be where you thought it should be. Because you might end up with what you need instead of what you wanted, which is even more important.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, there’s a beautiful Zen teaching that says, “Letting go is hard, but holding on is harder.”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Definitely.

JAY SHETTY: And it’s exactly what you just described. Like when you’re trying to hold onto this rope and it’s tight in the grip, it’s exhausting. So much more. It’s exhausting. It’s painful. You’ll end up with scars from it. But you just pointed out — do you think it’s almost like a catch-22? Because it’s like, do you think you’d be this successful if you hadn’t had that?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: No.

JAY SHETTY: Right. I don’t think so either.

Forgiving Your Younger Self

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And I look at my 20-year-old self and I applaud her for surviving and doing whatever I needed to. Flying all over the world, wanting to achieve everything, having the personality trait of being someone who just wanted everything and not being apologetic for it.

Like, my younger self was not apologetic for wanting a piece of everything, wanting a legacy, wanting to leave behind something. And I really had to separate myself and look at her. In fact, when I was writing my memoir, it was a really critical experience for me, which helped me navigate a lot of things. Because I was talking to my friends and family and trying to corroborate my own memories, because memory is a funny thing.

JAY SHETTY: Absolutely.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: What I might remember is maybe just my perspective, and perception is definitely not reality. And I used to believe a hundred percent that perception is reality — that what you become is what people believe. And as time has gone by, I was just like, “Man, that girl really had to believe what she had to believe to get to the other side.” And that’s okay.

And I see a bravado which I admire today. I maybe don’t have it anymore. I’m a little bit more sensible, a little bit more level-headed, maybe.

JAY SHETTY: Still as funny, though. Still as funny.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Still as funny. Yeah, the comedy is important.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, exactly.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Gets you through stuff. But I think I needed to be that way. And as we grow older — I think for all of us, at whatever age in life you’re in — to be able to forgive yourself for how you were when you were young. We all hold on to so many burdens of our past and are so hard on ourselves because of those things. And just focusing on the future and the present is a way of kind of letting go of that control.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. I really appreciate that perspective, because I feel like so many of us, as humans, when we discover a new way of living, we almost disregard — shun — the past way of being. And so we’re like, “Oh, now I’ve figured out life, now I’m at peace.” And it’s almost like, wait a minute, you’re forgetting the part that that kid at 20 years old needed to have — that bravado, that holding on tight, that ambition, that drive to get here.

And I love what you’re saying, because I think that’s really the work that we’re all trying to do: accept that all these versions of us were just trying the best with what they knew.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah.

JAY SHETTY: And now that we know better, we can do differently and do better. But it’s not a judgment or a shunning of that version of ourselves.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And as we grow in life, we’re going to keep changing. Like evolution.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, hopefully.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And even if we don’t, that’s fine. That’s your individual journey.

Thoughts Are Not Facts

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: But like Nick’s new song — it was so profound to me. Gut punch. Because that’s what it really talks about is, “When did I get so good at being mean to myself?” Right. And we all do.

There are a couple of things which actually helped me. One is asking, “Is this a constructive thought?” — when I’m going down the rabbit hole of anything: stress, fear, anxiety, anything. Is it a constructive thought? Will it get me somewhere? And if it’s not, it’s not meant to be in your head.

And the second thing which has really helped me is: thoughts are not facts. So when you’re spiraling about something, or anxious about something, or berating yourself for having done something wrong, you have to kind of come back to the facts. Like, what are the facts that I know? And then it just takes away the power. Those are tools that have really helped me in this new Zen phase.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. I love those tools. Especially that second one. Because I feel like the mind is not a truth seeker — it’s a storyteller. And so it will make up a story, and it will create it, and

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: it will believe it.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. And we’ll plaster it. It’s the biggest fake news in the world — the mind doing its thing. And you just start to believe whatever news story it is, especially if we

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: don’t talk about it, which most of us are trained not to do. Right. Like, we’ve got to be tough. At least when I was growing up, there was no importance given to therapy or constructive conversation, even within family. It was like, “You’re stronger than that. You don’t have to feel that way.” Almost dismissive of actual feelings — and not just by parents. That was just the culture and society at the time.

And I feel like it’s a wonderful thing that we’ve come to a place where we can actually talk about our feelings. But the more you keep it in, the more you’re not allowed to talk about how you’re feeling — which is totally different from how you should be behaving or what you should be doing in a situation. Completely different thing.

How you’re feeling is so crucial to acknowledge. And then it’s easier to kind of move on. But the initial validation you need is: “I am upset about something, and it’s okay.” Whatever that might stem from. I might be feeling jealous. I might feel angry that something didn’t happen for me, or whatever it was. But it’s okay to acknowledge that feeling.

And I find it really beneficial to talk to my best friend, or my husband, or someone. This is also a Nick Jonas learning, actually.

JAY SHETTY: Go on.

Learning to Communicate: The Storm and the Teacup

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Oh, man. I just realized early into our marriage, we had an argument that everyone does when you’re just getting to know each other and newly married. And we had an argument and being the person that I am, I’m the storm in Nick’s teacup. That’s how we are. Or at least we were. I don’t know, we’re evolving.

But I was like, well, we need to approach it this way. And this is how it’ll get better. Solutions. And he was like, well, we need to talk about how we’re feeling. And those were completely two different things. And I didn’t know how to do that, or the fact that I needed to do that.

And he was like, let’s talk about how I’m feeling, how you’re feeling, and then we’ll be able to move on to a solution, which was so mind blowing to me at that time and profound, honestly. And it just changed the direction of the conversation. It’s so healthy to be able to acknowledge, yeah, this made me feel this way. And the same honest truth. So then you’re like, oh, my gosh, if something I said made someone feel a certain way, how do I feel about doing that to a loved one? If certain behavior from me or a certain behavior from you just makes me feel not nice, will you keep doing it again knowing that?

So it was such a big learning for both of us. And we’ve never gone back to the storm and the teacup.

JAY SHETTY: Radhi and I have been together for 13 years now. It’s our 10 year wedding anniversary this year.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Congrats, you guys. Decades.

JAY SHETTY: Super exciting. And at the same time, of course we still have stupid arguments all the time. We’ve just built tools and techniques over the years that have worked for us. What gave you — because I find this to be one of the biggest things, at least for me and Radhi, that I think has been beneficial — what gave you the humility to be able to learn that from Nick? Because I think in a lot of relationships it’s kind of like, well, you want to do it that way, but this is the way I do it. So like you’re saying, hey, I wanted solutions.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I was like that.

JAY SHETTY: Right?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It happened for a few times when we argued, when I was like, this is who I am and this is what I know.

JAY SHETTY: And it’s worked for me —

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It has worked for me. But I think I heard him maybe for the first time. And I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t hearing him. I was focused so much on what I was feeling that I couldn’t listen to what he was feeling. And over time, my husband is — and I’ve said this so many times — the most sincere, honest person. And that just disarms you. So when he looks at you with those eyes and says, “Let’s talk about how we’re feeling,” we’re going to talk about how we’re feeling.

Nick Jonas: Quiet Confidence and Natural Leadership

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, he has that deep presence.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: He just, like, the room calms down and he just takes you in the direction that he wants to. And that’s the first thing, actually, that drew me to Nick when we first met — he has this quiet confidence which makes him a natural leader. You kind of want to listen to him and hear him out and know that he has thought about things and he’s not impulsive. He’s decisive, but it’s just this quiet confidence. It doesn’t need to be put on display. And that was just beautiful.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. I mean, that takes a lot from you to notice that as well. Because sometimes I think quiet confidence is missed.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yes.

JAY SHETTY: Because it’s quiet — it doesn’t have that flashy feel. It doesn’t look like leadership in the old way it’s been propagated across the world, and it’s easy to miss. So it’s also credit to you to be able to, at the time, notice that and see the value of it. I felt the value of it when I’ve been around him and had conversations with him.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And it’s always been something I have sought. It’s been something that I have always been drawn to. And again, it’s different phases, different — you have to have different kinds of confidence. There are times where you need to be a peacock, or a porcupine. You know, it’s fine.

JAY SHETTY: That’s good. I like that.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah, you can be either or, but you’ve got to show it off a little bit sometimes, and then there are times you don’t. It’s really up to us to figure out how much you need to turn it up and how much you need to turn it down. But the fact that you can turn it down — that is something a lot of people don’t know and use. Confidence doesn’t always have to be loud. It doesn’t always have to scream. It just arrives. And that’s the best type.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. No, I mean, obviously you have that.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: You also have that quiet confidence.

JAY SHETTY: Thank you. That’s very sweet. That’s very kind of you. Yeah. I found it really fascinating because when I first came here, people would always be like, “Oh, you do motivational speaking,” which I don’t consider myself to do, because I would think about all the motivational speakers that have come before, and they’re loud, they’re big. And I’m like, I’m just a little Indian guy. That’s not my presence. And I don’t think that’s the only way to be powerful. It’s a way, and I —

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And it moves people. It’s powerful.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. And I love what you’re saying — that it can be done quietly. I find it fascinating that you were seeking that, because right now, when we think about dating in a modern world, whether it’s marriage or any sort of committed, monogamous relationship, I think what women and men are looking for — sometimes we’re all so confused because there are so many versions of what confidence, strength, and attractiveness —

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: — and what could be right for you.

JAY SHETTY: Correct. And what’s right for you. But you knew that was right for you because there was something guiding you to that. Was that intuition?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It happened so quick.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It was so quick. And I wondered for the first year, I was like, what was it? Because I’m not one to jump in with full commitment.

JAY SHETTY: It was like six months immediately. Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Six months since we first went out on our first date, we were engaged. We were engaged in like two months or something.

JAY SHETTY: It’s amazing.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It was so quick. But there was no part of me that could say no. I was so drawn and compelled by him. And I think one of those things was his natural leadership. And that comes from his quiet confidence. He would just hold my hand and I felt the need to follow him. I’m usually the person showing people the way. So it was just very attractive to me to be with someone that is so decisive and is not afraid to show it and doesn’t need to scream it off the rooftops.

What Nick says, he could say to you on this microphone or he could say at home. He’s just like that — that’s who he is. And that was very new to me, and disarming and charming at the same time.

Trust, Leadership, and the Foundation of Their Relationship

JAY SHETTY: I love the way you both speak about each other. This is so special. I’m literally going to get the two clips of you both talking about each other and put them next to each other, because it’s wonderful. It’s so wonderful because it’s real. It’s not easy. It requires a lot of humility, even as what you just said — I’m used to being the leader, I’m used to showing the way. But actually, I’m really happy to let someone else lead sometimes.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: That’s what every girl wants — to be with a man competent enough that you will trust them to guide you in the right place. Because usually, women are really good at figuring out and navigating through problems. But Nick has this innate wisdom that I trust, and I’ve always trusted his honesty. And I think that was one of the first things that I was like, yes, you will be great for life. That’s it.

JAY SHETTY: That’s amazing. That’s so good. And I loved — I saw your congrats on the Variety covers.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Thank you.

JAY SHETTY: I read the piece before as I was preparing for this, and I just loved how you said — because when I hear you both, when I’ve spent time with you both, I’ve been to your house, spent time with you over the years at different events — you see that love. You see the way you communicate. You see it even when I’m speaking to you both here. There’s so much genuineness.

And then naturally, you talked about the Variety cover with the negativity that naturally comes with having a relationship in the public eye. And I love that you said, “I just don’t think about it anymore because we’ve been together for eight years.” Like, this stuff doesn’t matter almost anymore. How hard was it to get to that point, to be able to say, you know what, we’ve always been good, we’re fine? How long did it take for you to feel — I’m not even letting that get to me anymore?

Dealing with Public Scrutiny and Finding Peace

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I mean, it’s hard. I still will read a comment here or there, and I’m like, why? Like, what did I do to you? Why be so mean? I don’t even know you. I’ve never met you. You’ve seen some aspects of my life and decided I might be this horrible person, or that we’re not right together. Why? So it still, sometimes in weak moments, will get me, like so many other mean things do.

But in general, I think I’m just in a place where I want to focus on the good in my life. And I feel really blessed to have the good that I do. It’s not been an easy journey, and to be in a place where you come out of a storm and the sun is shining and you just take that moment — I feel like I’m in that moment right now.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. Me and Radhi don’t obviously have nearly the amount of eyeballs that you guys have on us, but we went through this really interesting period where we’d been together every day during the pandemic. And as soon as the pandemic was over, Radhi was so excited to go back home and see her family, as so many people were.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yes, sure.

JAY SHETTY: And so Radhi was spending a lot of time in London after the pandemic because she just missed her family. She missed her parents, and I did too. But I have work here, I have my team here, I’ve set up a life here, and I go back and forth, but not as often as she likes to.

And it was really fascinating because I got a call from my publicist one day. She goes, “Jay, I just got a call from this major publication and they’ve been reading on the Dark Web —” I was like, “What is the Dark Web?” — “that people are thinking that you and Radhi are about to break up, that you’re not together anymore, and that the pictures you’re posting are old,” and all this stuff. And I was like, we’re in a really good place. We’re totally happy. Actually, the pandemic was amazing for us because we spent every day together and fell more in love with each other, which was such a blessing.

And me and Radhi have always had this communication where London is such an important part of her identity — our family, our niece and nephew. And so we’ve always tried to live this LA-London life as much as we can.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Not easy.

JAY SHETTY: It’s not easy at all.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Tough flight.

Navigating Public Scrutiny and Relationship Privacy

JAY SHETTY: So Radhi will go back a lot more often. I’ll run in and out whenever I can. And it was just fascinating to me that that was even being talked about. And she was like, yeah, there’s loads of people just wondering whether you guys are still together, still in love, whatever.

And I remember having the conversation with Radhi and laughing at it, obviously, because we know what we’re doing. But I was like, wow. Where do people even invent this stuff? And then how does it go from we’re living in different countries during a certain period of time with context, but you take that to be, we don’t love each other anymore, don’t want to be together.

And like I said, it’s nowhere near compared to the eyeballs that you and Nick have used to. It’s just such a fascinating thing. And I struggled with that. And Radhi struggled with it, where she got to the point where she was like, you know what? I don’t want to talk about our relationship publicly anymore. That’s where she got to. She was like, I just don’t want to talk about it because I don’t like all these opinions. It really affected her.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I have a couple of thoughts on how I kind of navigated it.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: One is, we are living in a time and a period where we get to see and read the opinions that people have of us. Right. Like before social media, back in the day, you think the aunties weren’t talking in the kitchen? Everyone was talking.

JAY SHETTY: They were definitely. That’s brilliant.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Everyone was talking about everything. We just didn’t hear about it.

JAY SHETTY: Absolutely.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So nothing’s really changed. It’s just how much information we are absorbing. So take that power away. This is all the same people that would have talked about you guys even 40 years ago if you were in the position that you’re in. That’s kind of the gig. When you become a public person, people will have an opinion on you. So protect your sanity by understanding that this comes with the job, it comes with the territory. Right. So that’s one.

Of course, it can still affect you and hurt because it comes across your timeline and you’re like, why? What’s the need of it? The second thing that I really strongly believe — it’s no one’s business, honestly. And that’s okay. Like, you share as much as you need to and what feels right. And even within our families, especially Indian families, everyone’s in your business. Everyone wants to know all the things. But even there, I believe that if it’s not your business, I don’t need to tell you.

So protecting ourselves from the cacophony of opinions is really important. And that’s just by doing the self-talk and being like, do I want to react to this? Is this a constructive thought? You gotta nip it in the bud and be like, that’s not something I need to waste my time on.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. I think me and Radhi made a pact early where even with the family piece, it was like, we solve our problems together.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah, exactly.

JAY SHETTY: And if we need to communicate with either of our parents — you communicate with your parents, I communicate with mine. Because that’s the open line of communication that is beneficial.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’ll be honest and —

JAY SHETTY: Exactly.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’ll be real.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Whatever your version of that is, I think, like, just the public scrutiny — and it’s for everyone now. Like, there are comments on everyone’s socials. Right. Like, not just people who are in the public eye, like content creators, anyone who’s out there.

JAY SHETTY: Yes.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: You have comments. So it’s not just a problem of public people anymore. That’s just the nature of the world we’re living in.

JAY SHETTY: Correct.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So for everyone who gets mean comments on your Instagram or TikTok or whatever — really recognizing, and maybe young people don’t even remember this, but people always talked.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: There’s a Hindi song which means people have to say something. So they’re constantly going to say something. And that’s just human beings. So just a pinch of salt sometimes is important while reading that stuff.

JAY SHETTY: Well said. Good advice.

Leaving Bollywood: The Truth Behind the Move

JAY SHETTY: I want to shift gears because I know we can talk about Nick the whole podcast. We’ll get back to him. And I want to talk about family as well, but I want to shift gears to something you said earlier. You said to me that actually this is the first time where you’re actually using agency to be in the choice of what speed you’re moving at. And before, there was almost this pivot that felt pushed on you or just felt like the way you had to go.

And I was reading online about a director in Bollywood who was saying that Priyanka was treated badly, that “we pushed her out” was his language. And I was like, I don’t know how that feels when you’re at the top, when you’ve won. Like, you are one of the most iconic people we’ve ever had in the industry. In Bollywood, without a doubt — celebrated, done every major movie, worked with every major director, every major person in the industry. To me, it looked like a win, but that’s what I mean. People are almost coming out and confessing and feeling like, no, we treated her badly, we pushed her out. How do you feel about that when you hear that?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I have conflicting thoughts with all of that because I feel like surviving in the movie industry is tough for everyone. It’s not an easy place. It’s political, it’s networky, it’s moment driven. If it’s the moment, you’re the man of the moment or the woman of the moment, and then the moment’s gone. It’s somebody else’s moment, so it’s fleeting. So I am pragmatic enough to recognize that.

I feel like everybody has their struggles because of their choices. I did feel like I was in a place where I felt cornered, where work was limited, and in order to survive emotionally, mentally, physically, I just needed to move. And that’s always been my answer. I’m not someone who stays stagnant. I need movement to solve my problems. And this time it just happened to be across continents.

A Breath of Fresh Air: The Pop Star Era

JAY SHETTY: You know, the hardest thing to do —

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Completely move, like, completely different. But I was talking to you about the universe, right? So I was in this place where I was doing good work, but I kind of didn’t see myself — like I told you, I look five seconds ahead of me. I’m always thinking ahead, that’s my nature. So I just didn’t see longevity the way I wanted it in my situation at that time.

And I’m honest about who I am. So I was never afraid of living my truth, but that’s what it ended up being. I felt cornered. And Anjula, who’s our common friend — who, for people who don’t know, is now my manager — but at that time, she ran Desi Hits, which was a joint venture with Interscope Records, which shone the light on Indian artists and South Asian artists and brought them over to America.

And she saw an old movie of mine at her mom’s house. It was called Bluff Master. And she was working with Jimmy Iovine at that time. They had just done the Pussycat Dolls version of that. So there was that cross-pollination — I like to use that word — of cultures within music that was happening. And she reached out to me and said, “I heard you can sing.”

I mean, I can carry a tune with a little bit of help, but not like — I used to enjoy it. I used to go into the studio, sing with my friends. You know how in Bollywood movies we have music as a soundtrack to every movie, and that’s usually recorded with music producers. And so I used to go in for those sessions just because I loved seeing how music was made. And so sometimes I would take the mic and just sing or whatever. So I had a few songs out there floating around, and she got her hands on them and was like, “Let’s make you a pop star.”

And because I was feeling — it was like the universe kind of just timed itself together. I was feeling very limited in my work in Hindi movies. I was feeling like I didn’t have a direction to go in, and this was like an olive branch.

And I don’t get starstruck, but musicians get me. Being able to be on that stage and command with a live microphone, so many people — that is incredible to me. So I was just blown away by being flown to London, and then from there being signed to Universal, from there coming to LA and being in the studio with Will.i.Am and Pitbull and the Chainsmokers, working with Redone — I met the most incredible people during this two-year pop star era of mine.

It was such a welcome change. It was a breath of fresh air. And this is behind the lens — like what I was feeling. I was feeling like I was drowning and I was suddenly pulled out and I could breathe. And I didn’t know if this would stick or not, but I was just breathing, and I was breathing in excellent company. I was making music that I didn’t know how to make. But there was faith in something in me.

And I have to give credit to both Anjula and Jimmy Iovine for seeing something that I didn’t see. I was honestly just breathing at that point and really happy to be given an opportunity to work with some of these incredible artists that I had admired for so long. I mean, I spent my 30th birthday with Bono. How many people can say that? It was just so cool to be in that rarefied air of artists who make music with a guitar and songs that come into their mind.

I was just inspired and feeling a sense of being alive — creatively and emotionally.

Loss, Loneliness, and Starting Over

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I lost my dad within that phase as well, which was a really big hit for me. So it was a tough period of five, six years — a lot of change, a lot of full stops, a lot of leaving feelings and things behind and trying to come out on the other side of it. And I was alone because I’d moved countries. That was an extra layer of tough. I didn’t really have a lot of friends. I have a lot of family in America, but everyone’s really busy with their lives.

So I was bi-coastal between LA and New York, and hotel rooms get lonely, so I moved into an apartment. And after the music phase was over, after four songs out there, I was like, I don’t know if this is — I’m as good as I would like to be. And then Jimmy suggested that I find representation in acting. And I did. And that’s how it started.

I got Quantico, which was after a bunch of auditions — which was also one of my first auditions in years.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Terrifying in itself, the whole process. Because when I was working in Bollywood, I’d reached a point where people knew my work, so I’d get direct offers. The whole process — it’s so crazy that as actors, we do this, and rejection is such a large part of it too. But that first time when I walked into that audition hall and there were all of these girls on a chair, and I realized they were all here for the same part — that’s a crazy feeling.

JAY SHETTY: And does everyone look similar? Is that the goal? Or was it different because you were doing it?

Starting Over: Moving to America and the Dark Years

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It was different for that show because it was written for an American girl, which I clearly wasn’t. But I’m an actor, and I was like, yeah, I can study an accent. I went to school here. I’m not unfamiliar with the States, of course, so I worked on being American because she was an FBI agent. I worked a lot on that. I worked with acting coaches. I really wanted to see if I was built for America, because it takes different gears almost for anyone who’s familiar with Bollywood and Hollywood — the industries are just different.

So the first few times for me, I spent about six months in LA. I was also finishing a movie back in India at that time called Bajirao Mastani. So I was flying back and forth a lot, and I just was like, do I have what it takes, first and foremost, to do that? Which meant kind of erasing my accomplishments up until now when I walked into a room. It took me a little bit of talking to myself to do that.

I was like, okay, what are my choices? My choices are to do limited parts and see what that’ll turn out to be, to do music — which I kind of thought I was mediocre in — or to try and work in a completely new industry, which means you have to start all the way…

JAY SHETTY: All the way at the bottom again.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: At the bottom again. And that’s all right. Because the edge that I had is I was not new, so I knew my job. I knew what it’s like to be on a big budget movie. I knew what it’s like to be the lead of a part, to hold the attention on screen, or even stand on your mark, say the lines, know where the lights are. I know the profession, I know my craft. So that’s the edge that I have over someone newer who was coming into that space.

And I think that’s what really helped me — I focused on my craft, I focused on the job. I took away the noise of, “Well, you’ve done 50 movies in India, or you’ve been the cover of this magazine, why should you…” That thing that we do to ourselves, where you can get in your own way. I chose to get out of my way.

JAY SHETTY: Wow.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And I don’t know which part of my survival helped me do that. I really don’t know. It was a really dark period in my life — moving here, being alone, losing my dad, losing friendships, my family, my mom was not here. Nobody. Belonging in a rented apartment. Not sure if I should live in New York or live in Mumbai. Living out of suitcases for many years. It was just tough.

And I just was like, I need to get out of my way. I need something to give. I need something to work. And it was many, many years of trying to figure out what’ll stick, where I just put my head down and was like, just do the work.

I worked on my scenes. I went in for the audition, I got the job. I continued working on other things, looking at movies, working with acting coaches, just learning scenes, learning how to deliver dialogues in the English language. My brain was tuned to improvising in Hindi — I can do that because I’d done so much work in the Hindi language. So it was a pivot of my brain as well, to be able to read sides in English and deliver those lines.

I worked with a lot of acting coaches, some amazingly talented people both in New York and LA, to get more comfortable with that. And I just decided to focus on the work, and slowly it picked up. It took a lot of smaller parts, figuring out where I land, to now producing the movies that I work in. So it was a long journey. Emotionally traumatic in many ways, personally for me, but I’m happy to be on the other side of it.

The People Who Held Me Together

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when you describe that period of your life as drowning, and transitioning away from the industry and then finding air, even in the newness of music — and then adding on all the context you just gave us of how hard that time was, whether it was personally with your father, whether it’s professionally with new work, new industry, just not knowing anyone. The loneliness that comes with it. It sounds like, in your own words, it was a really dark time.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s tough. Yeah, it felt really dark. But I think the fact that I could pull myself out of it with the help of some amazing people that came into my life — like Ange, like Jimmy, like Dana, my team in India, Natasha — these are people that really held me together at that time when I didn’t have friends and family around me. We’ve all worked together now for 15 to 20 years.

But I was very lucky to have picked people around me that didn’t let me feel the weight and the gravity of what it felt like to me, because it may not have been the reality. But it felt like that to me. And now I acknowledge feelings. So this is me acknowledging what I felt those 12, 14 years ago — what are we in 2026? This was 2010, so 15, 16 years ago. Yeah, but I felt like that.

Celebrating People While They’re Still Here

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. I think it’s fascinating that we don’t necessarily give people the credit they deserve when they’re here with us and living on the planet. It’s a really…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I always think about that.

JAY SHETTY: Right. It’s such an interesting human trait.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I always think about that so much. And I actually started thinking about it after my dad, honestly, because it was such a personal loss for me. There were so many people that came out for — we called it his celebration ceremony, but it’s actually the chautha, which happens on the fourth day after you lose someone in Hinduism. You give the family four days to mourn, and on the fourth day, everyone else can start coming in to give their wishes.

And there were so many people that celebrated my father and spoke so highly of him. And I was like, why didn’t you say that to him when he was here? He would have loved to hear that.

And I have started making a practice in my life of reaching out to people — just if I think of them, or if I see good work, or someone’s on my mind and I haven’t been in touch with them for many years, I’ll just send a text saying, “Hey, I’m thinking of you. I appreciate you.” And it usually takes people by surprise. They’re like, “You texted me after 10 years.”

I feel like it heals me every time — thinking of someone’s achievement, or seeing something they’ve done. Because I would have wanted that. I would want that for me, and I would want that for everyone. I think everybody deserves to hear that they are appreciated, or that they mean something to someone, or that they’ve done something that moved somebody.

We should try and do that while people are on this planet. It just takes a text or a thought. The more you start doing it, it’s a butterfly effect of just niceness.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. And I love that you spoke about your father, because this isn’t about doing it for people just in the public eye. It’s just the idea of life.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I’m talking about nobody needs to know this. It’s between you and that person.

JAY SHETTY: Correct. Yeah, exactly.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s not on Instagram.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. That’s why I love what you said about your dad. It’s just…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s a text.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. People need to know while they’re here, while they’re living, while they’re breathing, how you feel about them — for people to be celebrated and honored while they’re here with us. Because you see it all the time: someone passes away and all of a sudden there’s an eruption of love and joy, but they weren’t experiencing that while they were alive. And what a loss — not only for them, but for us to even have the opportunity to express that gratitude or notice that about them.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s such a privilege to be able to express to someone what you feel for them. As a world, as a society, we don’t encourage our young — or ourselves — enough to be honest when you feel something for someone.

Just appreciating people. I didn’t know that at all when I was younger. I guess as you evolve in life… But in my 20s, my attitude literally was, “Everyone is doing their job, I’m doing my job. I’m not appreciative, I’m not expecting appreciation, so why should anybody else expect appreciation?” It was so tough.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. That’s being hard on yourself.

Protecting Yourself From Disappointment

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I guess I was allowing myself to not have the expectation of appreciation because I never got it. So I think my attitude came from protecting myself. Now I understand this. Even a few years back, I would just be like, “I don’t expect you to say I did an amazing job, or if my scene is right. I’m not expecting the director to clap for me. So why do I have to do that for people?”

It was such a tough attitude. But I understood why — I was navigating this really insane new industry and I didn’t want to have to seek it. So I built this wall where I was like, “Nobody needs it.” But you do. Everyone does. And now I’ve understood that. I don’t know where that learning came from, but I think just appreciating people is just nice.

JAY SHETTY: But I love the self-reflection of it. I think we all go through that phase where you’re really blocking something, because we don’t want to want validation. No one wants to want it.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah.

JAY SHETTY: But you do kind of like it.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah.

JAY SHETTY: And then you’re fighting against that feeling of, “Why do I want it? I shouldn’t want it, and therefore no one else should want it.”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah.

JAY SHETTY: But really, deep down, we all need it. Because I was saying to someone today — we were talking about the need for usefulness. Everyone wants to feel useful. We think people want to feel important or significant or celebrated. But most of us, good humans who are not narcissists, we just want to feel useful. And it’s when you don’t feel useful to someone that you feel valueless and helpless.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And like, “Did I add something?”

JAY SHETTY: Exactly. All we want to do is bring…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Something to the table.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And without having to ask for it. You don’t want to have to ask, “Do I bring value?” And especially when you’re starting out in any job — if you’re told even once that you bring value, it just makes you want to do better work.

And I think why I did that to myself was because I didn’t know if I would get it, and I didn’t want to put myself in a position where I had the expectation and then was let down. So I just normalized the fact that nobody needs appreciation. I don’t need it. You don’t need it.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, exactly. We repeat what we reward.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah.

The Birth of Malti: A Journey of Faith, Fear, and Fierce Love

JAY SHETTY: So if we reward the feeling of, “Oh, I don’t want it, I don’t need it,” we’re going to repeat that. If we reward someone for putting in effort and doing good work, that person will repeat it because that’s what inspires all of us. I really appreciate you going there on that theme of just how hard that transition was, because I think from the outside, you make it look easy, but that’s not.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Like I said, no one’s business.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, no one’s business.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s hard for me to talk about personal struggles because there’s just so much hardship in the world. I feel like even what was hard for me, it’s not as hard as what everybody — like, there are so many people going through so much worse. So there is a part of myself that still is hard on myself for that.

JAY SHETTY: Because it’s not hard enough. Yeah, your life is not hard enough.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: You’re like, “Don’t. You shouldn’t be feeling that way. Don’t be silly.” But everyone has struggles in their lives, and it’s tough to talk about it because you’re like, “What was so hard about that?” Just personally, it was.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, yeah. Not in context or comparison to anyone else.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s acknowledging how you feel.

JAY SHETTY: That seemed like a big transition for you. And when Nick was on the show, he spoke so vulnerably and openly about the birth of your daughter, which was traumatic to say the least, and of course, amazing. But in that moment, just how heavy it was and difficult it was for both of you, going through that process — I wanted to ask you if you were comfortable sharing from your heart and your words what that experience was like for you.

Malti’s Arrival: “She Was My Only Hope”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: The whole thing was tough because our journey to Malti itself was really rough. I don’t want to get into details because I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about it, but it was very hard on me. And she’s a miracle baby because she was my only hope at that time to be able to have a baby.

So when we were told that she’s coming at 27 weeks, I just shut down. I remember I sat in front of a fireplace in our house for, I think, like nine hours or something. And for someone who’s always so solution-oriented, I didn’t have a thought in my brain. And Nick was somewhere and he came back, and he grabbed me. We loaded the car and our dogs and we drove. It was Covid time. And just the situation under which she was born was so much duress for everyone involved, and it was just really intense.

She was purple, and we didn’t know. The NICU nurses — their little finger was too big for her mouth. How they intubated her was like — I still see that image. And thankfully everything was fine with our surrogate, so we could focus our energy. I was just numb. I just remember I didn’t know what to do or how to be useful in that moment.

We went with her to the NICU. One of us was allowed at a time. And she cried the first time, and it was like a cat — just like that, that’s all we got. My mom flew down, my in-laws flew down. But we were in the hospital, and it was such a personally traumatic time.

Forced to Announce: “We Weren’t Ready”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Somehow, because we were in and out of the hospital, I remember it leaked. And we got a text saying that her birth was going to be put out by the papers. I don’t want to give credence to who sent us that message or which network it was, but they said if we don’t act, they’re going to put it out in three hours. So we were kind of forced into announcing her birth. We wanted to hold onto our own narrative of it, but we weren’t ready because we didn’t know what would happen with her or how she would be.

It was three months — almost 110 days. We stopped everything. We were in the hospital every day with her. We did shifts so that she could be on our skin. The nurses said from day two of life that we should be doing skin to skin. So Nick would sing to her on his guitar. I used to have this little iPod which played all my mantras — my Mahamrityunjay mantra, my Gayatri mantra, my Om Namah Shiva — all of it would play all day inside her crib.

There were a lot of people praying for her. She was very, very desired, very coveted and treasured because her journey to get to this planet was so hard. She had six blood transfusions. I used to feel like she looked just like Nick and I as a combination, but everyone says she looked like him. But even in those days, as soon as we would be switching out, she would recognize our voices and smile — her eyes weren’t open, but she would have a little slight smile. And if you ever meet our daughter, she has the most glorious smile on the planet. Full face laugh.

“I Didn’t Have the Privilege of Being Afraid”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It was a brutal time. But I think I talked to myself when I’m in tough situations. Once I got out of the stunned nature of it, I realized how afraid she must have been. So I didn’t have the privilege of being upset or afraid. I had to show up as her mom, and I had to be tough through it. I had to smile for her. I had to equip myself to take care of a preemie baby and make sure she’s the healthiest that she can be. And that’s just what my focus turned into.

I was like, “It is not about me or him.” And this happened almost immediately — as soon as she was on my chest for the first time, at almost 27 and a half weeks, two or three days after. She was so tiny that her fingers felt like butterflies on me. She was just this little 1 pound, 11 ounces. In that moment, I was like, “I will go to the ends of the earth to protect you.” It’s a feeling I have never felt before.

And I think every first-time parent says that, but it’s like your heart is beating outside of your body. And especially with her, because she was so vulnerable, I became a tigress about everything — from her nutrition to her medication to her transfusions. Nick and I as a team, we didn’t have to talk to each other. It was just done. We used to look at one another, and we’d have the diaper bag ready. We’d say, “Tomorrow’s her bath day.” We’d have the bath, all the little things — make sure she has this much milk, is she okay. Every little thing about her, to make sure she gets to that weight and just survives, was the only order of business. Everything else took a backseat.

Coming Home: Tears of Gratitude

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: The day we brought her home, she was still so tiny. And I have a big Mandir in our house with a big Shiv Ji Murthy, and I really am a big Shiv Bhakta. I really believe that Bholibaba has guided me through every difficult moment in my life. And I’ve sat on his shoulders, and we just, as a family, sat in front of his vision.

I think that’s the first time I really wept. She was still so tiny, but I wept for the grace that she survived, the gratitude that she was home, that she chose us, that we could make this happen — where she could be in this world and have this thriving life. IVF is tough. And everything that contributed to her being on this earth, I was just so grateful for and just relieved.

After that, we had a big haven for her when she came home, and her naming ceremony, and then it just became real.

JAY SHETTY: Gosh. I think anyone who hears that — so sorry you had to go through that, and sorry that the family had to go through it together as well.

Making Peace with the Journey

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I was thinking about it, because I saw on your podcast when Nick talked about it, and I knew we would talk about it also. But I was kind of thinking about the whys in my life. Like, how did I navigate that? Because when you’re doing it, you just do it, right? You just take your choices. You’re not really thinking about the why. But in retrospect, I like to kind of unpick at that a little bit.

And I guess my choice to have kids at a later stage contributed to this being a really tough journey for me. But if I would have done it earlier, would it have been the wrong time? It wouldn’t have been her. I kind of made my peace with the fact that this journey came from making the right choice for me. And my biggest flex, honestly, is that I’m living this life with the right guy, with the right father for this incredible baby that we have. And that was meant to be, and the journey was meant to be. I feel really blessed to be on the other side of it, but it couldn’t have been any other way.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So you have to kind of forgive yourself.

JAY SHETTY: I feel like that overthinking brain of, “Well, if I did it this time, if I could have done it like—”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: “—she wouldn’t have had to deal with it.”

JAY SHETTY: She would have had to deal with it. Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And then you think about what she went through—

JAY SHETTY: But you’re like, “Oh, it would be a different soul.”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It would completely be a different person.

JAY SHETTY: And it would have been different circumstances. Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Different. I don’t know what that would have been like. I can’t speak to that — whether it would be good, whether it would be bad. It just wouldn’t be this.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And this is great. So I can’t speak for the parallel lanes, of course.

JAY SHETTY: That’s what the mind does with our life. Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: That’s what the mind does. Try to bring back to the present and the gratitude of our little family and being able to be together.

Faith as a Foundation

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. The mind plays all those games of sliding doors — “if this, then that,” “shoulda, coulda, woulda.” It’s fascinating. I love how much faith in your life is such a central pillar, a stronghold of how you come back to that. And I know that’s been there since day one with your family.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: When you grow up in India, it’s kind of ingrained in you, whatever religion you might grow up in. Faith is a big part of Indian spirituality. And we are a country of multiple religions. So I was very influenced by just faith in general, and the multicultural nature of my family as well. My grandmother’s Catholic, my masi is Muslim. We were raised as Hindus, but I went to a Catholic school. It was just a lot of influences.

And to me, faith is basically a relationship with something larger than yourself, and religion is your path to get there. It’s unique to everyone and every journey. But I’ve had a really, really strong faith in my life since I was a kid. Both my parents did, especially with Lord Shiva. We’ve been Shiv Bhaktas from when we were kids, and that’s a big pillar of my faith.

It’s really gotten me through really scary times and tough times. I kind of just close my eyes and go into a little box where I’m just talking to my God — just talking to Bholibaba. I say my prayer and I say, “You’ll get me through it.” And it’s like I feel safe in the box. It’s almost like I’m held, and somehow I come through it. And that’s what it is. Faith should feel like a hug, like a safe place. And my faith has always felt like that to me.

“Her Soul Was Meant to Be Here”

JAY SHETTY: Thank you for sharing that. As hard as it is to hear, and also to hear how hard it was for all of you, it’s inspiring and hope-giving, I think, to so many — just to hear about how you all came together, how that hope and that fight and that persistence and the shifts that you both did for the months that you switched, probably not even seeing each other much in the changeover because you’re trying to give time. And the way you both describe her as the miracle baby — it’s such a beautiful thing.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Her soul was meant to be here.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And she clawed her way into life, and I will celebrate that every day. And so will Nick. We celebrate her every day. She literally said that yesterday to me. She’s like, “Mama, my birthday just doesn’t end.” And I was like, “It doesn’t.”

Nick’s Letter & Final Games

JAY SHETTY: That’s amazing.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: We celebrate you every day because somebody came in and got her a present, and her birthday’s in January. So she was like, “This just doesn’t end.” And I was like, “And it won’t.”

JAY SHETTY: That’s so cute.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Every day. I love that is your birthday. I love that.

JAY SHETTY: Well, Priyanka, I reached out to Nick to share a letter for you that I could share with you. So I’m going to read it to you.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Did he do this on the day you did the podcast?

JAY SHETTY: No, no, no, no. In between. Not on the day. So I’m going to read it to you from Nick. This is from Nick to Priyanka.

He says, “My John” — which I love. I’m like, just seeing him write that is beautiful. Wow. This is the first time I’m reading it too, so I’ve not read it. I always save it because I don’t like reading it before it comes, so I’ve never read it.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Gosh, I’m embarrassed.

JAY SHETTY: “My John. I’m constantly in awe of the person you are. It’s not just the big titles — global icon, leader, force of nature. It’s how you show up as a mother, a daughter, a sister, and my wife. The focus and thoughtfulness you bring to every single day is something I try to live up to.

Everyone sees the public side of you, but it’s who you are in the quiet moments that really floors me. You have this incredible patience and a way of listening that makes people feel completely safe. I’ve seen people who usually keep their guards way up just let it go all around you, finding a kind of healing they didn’t know they needed.

One of my favorite qualities about you is that you truly never judge. You just meet people where they’re at and always find the good in people. That’s a rare thing.

You’re a leader in every sense. In these last eight years, I’ve watched you take on challenges that would have broken most people — whether it’s on a set or navigating the massive life change of moving countries and blending two very different worlds. You do it with a fire that honestly lights me up. You’ve stayed so true to your roots while adapting with a kindness that seems to never run out.

I’m so incredibly proud of you. I know your dad is looking down with that same pride, seeing the woman you continue to be.

As you talk with Jay today — and he better have those tissues ready — just know that Malti Marie and I are right there with you. You’re the center of our universe. Building this life with you is the greatest honor I have. Knowing we’re a team gives me a sense of peace I can’t even describe. No matter what life throws at us, I know we can handle it together.

I love you endlessly, Nick Jonas.”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: That’s crazy, man. Where are those tissues?

JAY SHETTY: They’re next to you.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: He said promised.

JAY SHETTY: I know. Nick, come on.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: He knows his wife. Knows what’ll get me.

JAY SHETTY: It’s beautiful. I love your love. Long may it flourish and continue and thrive. And I’m so glad that Malti Marie has both of your love as well. I hope that continues. You’ve been so kind. I know he says it to you every day, probably, anyway.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: He is one to say it.

JAY SHETTY: He is one to say it.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: He is not one to not say it. And I think he promised me that very early in our engagement. When he asked my mom for my hand in marriage — which he did before he even asked me. What a gentleman. He said, “I promised your mom that I’ll always keep you happy. And that’s going to be my quest — your happiness. I’ll always tell you how loved you are.” And you can say that when you just get married.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, of course.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: But to keep up with it, and to make sure he tells me in little things — I was just telling you, I’m purging my house at the moment because we’ve just moved back to LA. I’m switching it out for what’s right for us now. So I have this memory drawer in which I keep cards. I love the cards that people write me. I love a handwritten note.

So I was pulling out all my cards — they’re all mixed up — and all of these letters that Nick has written to me over the years. I put them all together and I was just reading them. Right from the beginning, he just always told me. And you know, it’s the simplest thing, but tell your loved ones you love them. It makes such a big difference.

JAY SHETTY: Absolutely. Such an important reminder.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah.

JAY SHETTY: Especially if you can write that well as well.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Marry a musician.

Would You Rather

JAY SHETTY: Exactly. Priyanka, we now end — you didn’t do this last time — we end every episode with these two fun games that we created. One’s called “Would You Rather,” and the other one’s “Gut Reaction.”

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Okay.

JAY SHETTY: So “Would You Rather” is first up. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, this is your “Would You Rather.” Would you rather play the hero or the villain for the rest of your career?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah.

JAY SHETTY: In movies, obviously.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah. I mean, I do love playing a bad guy, but it would get boring for the rest of your life because I don’t know how creative I could get with how many bad guys. But I’ll say the villain. It’s more interesting.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. The Bluff.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Okay.

JAY SHETTY: We’re going to get to see you.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Well, I’m not a villain in The Bluff.

JAY SHETTY: No, you’re not. But we get to see you do a lot of crazy action scenes.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah. You know, it’s so crazy. This movie — I’ve done a lot of work with Amazon Prime and this is another one of our collaborations. But this movie is at such a pivotal point in my life because my character is a former pirate who was known as Bloody Mary, self-titled. You can tell why. She was tough and gruesome, based off of Grace O’Malley from Ireland and many other female pirates that did exist at that time, whose lives were just insane. If you read the books, it’s like, I can’t imagine being a female and a pirate at that time.

But why this movie really resonated with me is something I said earlier in the podcast — how far would you go to protect your family? How far would you go to protect your children? And this is the story of a mother and a woman who says, “You’re not coming for my family.”

One of the most amazing lines in this movie, which I really deeply resonated with, is: “You come to my home, you threaten my family, and then I kill him.” And I say, “Where’s my husband? Where is my husband?” Every wife when they’re playing golf, isn’t it?

JAY SHETTY: I love that. That’s so good.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: That’s what I love about this movie. It’s really fun. It’s like a bloody gore —

JAY SHETTY: The action scenes are insane.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I love doing that. It’s gory. It’s got drama. It’s beautifully shot. Based in the Caribbean. What more could you ask? Our director was humongously talented — Frankie Flowers.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, it’s beautifully shot.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: What would you do? How far would you go?

JAY SHETTY: And you’ve lived through that in your own version of that, so —

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And I will continue to. Yeah, I would go to the ends of the earth to protect.

JAY SHETTY: I saw that in your eye when you said that. I was like, wow, do not mess here. Your eyes were like, “Jay, do not.” And I’m like, trying to be family. I saw that in your eye. You were fully locked in there. And I was like, okay, I’m scared now.

All right. Would you rather have to wear your Miss World crown to every major Hollywood premiere for the next year, or have to introduce yourself as Miss World 2000 in every room you enter?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Oh, neither. That’s the worst one. I’m very proud of that achievement for my 18-year-old self at that time, but it’s not something I would care to do again.

JAY SHETTY: Okay. Would you rather accidentally send a flirty voice note meant for Nick to your entire production group chat? Or accidentally read one of your own romantic texts out loud thinking it was part of the script during a table read?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Well, I wouldn’t do that, but I may have even done this. I am notoriously known for sending the wrong messages to the wrong people. So I think it would be funny. Yeah, I think it’ll be hilarious. Yeah.

JAY SHETTY: All right. This one also applies to The Bluff. Would you rather film a brutal stunt sequence in one take, absolutely nail it, but get injured and never be allowed to do your own stunts again — or play it safe, let a stunt double take over, and always wonder if you could have done it yourself?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I have done enough work with incredible stunt teams to know when I can and when I can’t.

JAY SHETTY: Wow.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I’m very, very safe and practical. I’m not a hero when it comes to set. I don’t need to prove a point. I’m a professional. I go to set, I see what I have to do.

The Bluff especially — in fact, there are a lot of one-take scenes, and a lot of injuries that I did get in this movie. But because it’s a dramatic performance of a stunt movie, it really required my face in everything. It required me to convey the emotion of what I was feeling while I was in the stunt scenes. So I did a lot of it myself.

I was trained by an incredible stunt team. My stunt coordinator and double, Anisha Gibbs, worked with me very, very closely. In fact, we shot a whole year. The first three months was Heads of State. While I was filming Heads of State, I was training for The Bluff.

JAY SHETTY: I loved that movie. That was great.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Thank you.

JAY SHETTY: So much fun.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It was so —

JAY SHETTY: It was so much fun.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So in between shots, we would train the sword-fighting sequences on set. Idris and John would be like, “We don’t use swords in this movie,” but we would be training for the next one. Right after I finished that in France, I flew to Australia — ten days, seven days in — and started filming The Bluff, which was for three months. So it was just so intense. Training happened while filming.

JAY SHETTY: Wow.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Learning choreography happened while filming. I would get a few hours after finishing a scene and I would go learn my choreo, or in between shots. So it was just very alive and creative.

But I’m very safe. I learned very early in my career that when doing a stunt, you have to walk your path. Even if your stunt double has checked it for you, you walk your path. You see if there’s a nail coming out from somewhere, if you could get injured, if where you’re falling doesn’t have a protrusion. You have to be really practical in order to be able to pull off stunts. You can’t be a hero.

JAY SHETTY: I like the pragmatism and the practicality. Very useful.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Can’t be a hero.

JAY SHETTY: Great answer. All right, one last “Would You Rather,” and then we’ve got “Gut Reaction.” I think I know the answer to this one because I saw you already do this and it was amazing. Would you rather perform one full Jonas Brothers song on stage by yourself in front of a sold-out stadium — or open a Jonas Brothers show with a 5-minute stand-up monologue about your relationship?

Nick’s Role and the Art of Partnership

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I’ll do the monologue.

JAY SHETTY: You did so good on the roast. The roast is so good. That is, hands down, still one of my favorite clips of you.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Can I tell you a secret?

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, please.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Nick wrote my roast.

JAY SHETTY: Did he actually? No. Don’t tell us that. Don’t ruin it. It was so good.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: But I’m not ruining it. That’s our partnership.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, yeah, that’s your partnership. But your delivery was brilliant.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Thank you. I mean, he didn’t write all of it. He brought in a lot of amazing contributions.

JAY SHETTY: He’s a good writer. At comedy, too. What can’t this guy do?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: He knows his wife. He wanted to set me up for success. And he was like, “You need to lean into this joke. You need to say that.” And I was like, “No, I don’t want to address that.” The Instagram thing was all Nick.

JAY SHETTY: It was such a good one.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Where he was like, “You have the most Instagram followers of all three of us combined.” And I was like, “I’m not saying that.”

JAY SHETTY: On your own. That was so good, though.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: And he was like, “You have to say it.” And yeah, that’s our partnership where we want to set each other up for success, and I love that.

JAY SHETTY: What a beautiful thing.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Such a beautiful moment for me where he just came up with his own roast.

JAY SHETTY: That’s awesome. They were great jokes. They landed so well.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Thank you.

The Final Five: Rapid Fire Round

JAY SHETTY: All right. Gut reaction, instinctual response — because you did the final five with us last time, we made this up for you. The thing I pretend I’m chill about, but I’m not, is…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Most things. I literally come across as the most chill and most confident, but inside I’m like a duck under the water — up front, you don’t see anything. So I’m stressed about most things.

JAY SHETTY: The most unhinged thought I’ve had this week was…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s not unhinged, but it’s an honest thought that just came up, actually, in your library.

JAY SHETTY: Oh, God.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So when we first moved into our house, I was filming a lot, and we had people who were doing the interiors and helping us with the interiors of our home. I have a library, which is my pride and joy. So I walked into the library, and the books were color coded, and I was like, “What are you doing? Whose library is color coded?” And then I saw your library was color coded. I was like, “Jay, do you read your books, or are they just pretty?”

JAY SHETTY: That’s so good.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: You actually read them.

JAY SHETTY: I love it. I’m glad. Thank you for being honest. I like it. Well, I have two. You will see the one in the house when we go there later today. That’s my bookshelf. That’s my pride and joy. It’s all mixed and messed up and everything.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: See, that’s the difference.

JAY SHETTY: And this was during Zoom days of the pandemic. Great answer. The most humbling mom moment I’ve recently had was…

On Motherhood and the Weight of Working Away

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Being a working mom is tough. I saw my mom being a working mom, and her mom, so I know it’s doable. Whenever me or my husband leave, either one of us are with Malti. So if I’m traveling, he’s with her. Or we have the grandparents — my in-laws, who are beautiful and gracious — while I’m doing this press tour, they’re with our daughter, or my mom is.

But I was packing up and I was leaving for a film shoot. I’m working on an Indian movie called Varanasi in Hyderabad.

JAY SHETTY: Congrats. So excited for this.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Thank you.

JAY SHETTY: This is huge. I just want to point out for everyone who doesn’t know — there’s a gentleman who made RRR, Rajamouli…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: SS Rajamouli.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, who’s making Varanasi. And it’s amazing. Congratulations.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah. This is a great part and an incredible movie, with great partners in the film. So I’ve had to fly back and forth from Hyderabad every month because I come back to Malti. My airline status has gone up because of this one movie.

But I was leaving and I was packing up. Before I leave for a trip, we talk about it. We have this invisible string — which is in her heart and my heart — and we talk about the fact that mom has gone for like 12 sleeps or 15 sleeps. So we were having that chat.

Whenever she has real feelings, she talks to her babies, because she is a mom and she has little dollies which are her babies. And so when I was leaving, she was looking at her baby and she says, “I’m such a good mama. I don’t leave you and go to work.” She was three and a half at that time.

JAY SHETTY: Oh, gosh. That’s heartbreaking.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So what was the question again? Yeah, that was my most humbling moment.

JAY SHETTY: That is the most humbling moment in a while.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: My toes curled. I was almost about to cancel my flight. I was so stressed out. And then she laughed and smiled at me — she knew it was a joke. She jumped on me and I was like, “Don’t say that.” And she was like, “No, mama, no.” She doesn’t like getting me or Nick or any of us upset. She’s very sensitive to that.

But I was thinking about it the whole flight to Hyderabad. I was like, “Oh my gosh. Trust your child to humble you in one second.”

JAY SHETTY: That is painful. That’s heartbreaking. That’s not even humbling. That’s just heartbreaking.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: So tough.

JAY SHETTY: Oh, no. If I ever have a little girl, I’m going to be wrapped around her finger. That’s going to be so hard.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: It’s over.

JAY SHETTY: It’s so hard because they have that…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Little voice and those eyes. It’s just over.

Returning to India: Varanasi and SS Rajamouli

JAY SHETTY: How does it feel to be going back to India to do a movie again after so many years?

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: If there was any film to be done, it would have been this. This is the best way of going back into Indian films. I missed it so much. I missed dancing. I missed the chaos on set. I missed the creativity.

And with SS Rajamouli sir, his mind and his vision are so far beyond limited imagination that just to be able to see what he’s thinking and kind of be the vessel to tell that story is great. My part is amazing. I have a beautiful graph of ups and downs in the movie. My co-actors are great. It’s awesome to be able to work with actors who know their stuff, arrive on time, are great to be around, and are fun.

It’s been a really, really gratifying journey so far. It’s long — he takes a long time to make movies. It’s almost been 14 months. But it’s going to be really special, and the journey of it has also been special.

In fact, I took Malti to Hyderabad once and she went to the farm. They had this beautiful farm outside of Hyderabad that sir, his wife, his family — they run themselves. It was so much fun. She met calves, saw paddy fields, ran around. It was beautiful. I love it.

Closing Reflections: Grace, Trust, and Giving People the Benefit of the Doubt

JAY SHETTY: I’m so excited for you — for The Bluff, for Varanasi, for your family. Congratulations on it all, and thank you today for sharing it as it is and what’s going on behind the scenes.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: What all did I say?

JAY SHETTY: What’s happening? What’s really going on? You can tell me offline if we got there.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I don’t know. That’s the thing about it. When I’m doing an interview, I try not to think about it. But you also have this amazing innate quality of being able to get people to talk about tough things without feeling judged or critiqued. I don’t know what’ll happen when these clips come out. But while we’re on this couch, it’s real good.

JAY SHETTY: Well, my only intention is just that people get to talk about the things they don’t get to talk about anywhere else, and people get to really understand what’s going on when we think we know everything.

I think we live in a world right now where we think we know what everyone’s going through, we think we know what everyone believes. And it’s nice to have an open opportunity to create space. And I think it’s not just creating space for each other, but hopefully this ripples out into people creating space in their families and their friends and amongst each other.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Giving each other the benefit of the doubt.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. Some grace and space.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Some goodness. Believing in people’s goodness. I used to think — actually, Nick writes this in his letter — but I used to think that was one of my worst qualities, because I’m the worst judge of people. I always see people for the good in them. I don’t understand, like, why would you have a bad agenda?

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, right.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Why would you say something to me that you don’t mean? That’s so convoluted and exhausting to think about. There are people like that in the world, and as I’ve navigated many different countries, you have to be aware of that. And I’m raising a daughter — I want to be able to equip her to protect herself. Sometimes that kind of transparency, or just, you know, recognizing that what you’re getting is not the right thing — because there are tricky people in the world. But it’s just tough on me. I’ve just never been able to navigate that very well.

JAY SHETTY: Well, it’s a good quality as well.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Is it though? It’s a little too trusting.

JAY SHETTY: I mean, as long as you have good boundaries when you discover something, I think that’s…

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: The problem is the discovery.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. The discovery could be terrible.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Or you never discover it. Some people are really good at maintaining a two-faced nature or whatever. My husband’s great, though. Oh my God. He’s the best judge of character.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I don’t know why he says that about me. I can’t tell. I’ll tell after you show me your cards. Like, after someone does something, I’m like, “That sucks.” But I cannot tell without that.

JAY SHETTY: Well, you’re a great team, a great partnership. Priyanka, it’s been a joy, truly. It’s been such a joy talking to you again. I’m so glad to have you back on after five years.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I know.

JAY SHETTY: Please do not wait five years. Please do not wait five years to come back. I hope you come back sooner.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yes, for sure. I’m glad to be here actually in the studio instead of doing it virtually.

JAY SHETTY: Absolutely. You’re the best. Congratulations.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Thank you. Oh, thank you. You’re doing production now.

JAY SHETTY: Yes.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Coming to my side of the business. Congratulations.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, it’s exciting.

Never Stay in Your Lane

JAY SHETTY: Having so much fun with it, are you? You know, when you grow up, where I grew up in London, I would never have believed in a million years that I’d ever have the opportunity to do something like this. Especially what I thought I’d be when I grew up. And so the fact that I even have the opportunity is such a blessing and such a fortune. So very excited about the projects we’re working on and so proud of you.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I tell you, everyone navigating just your career, and maybe I’m saying this out of experience, but we are living in an incredible time where you can actually think of the most insane idea and monetize it for everyone. This is not just like for me as an actor. In fact, it’s limiting for me as an actor. But you can go beyond the medium that you’ve been given.

Like, you could be a content creator, you could become a producer, you could write yourself a story and fund it. You could be enterprising. I tell every person who’s navigating this ever changing world of any business that you might be in — with AI, there’s so much change. Be enterprising, be an entrepreneur for yourself. Learn to sell yourself and your strengths and understand that the end goal might look really large.

Like, you’re working with Netflix and you’re producing TV shows. That’s insane. If you tell your 10 year old self —

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, even my 20 year old self.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Or even your 20 year old self. But you’re enterprising and you know your strengths and that’s just good business. And to be able to be excited about the opportunity is very, very humble of you. But I would like to applaud the fact that you’ve been able to build that road for yourself and you’ve been enterprising for yourself, and built yourself into such a strong business.

And that’s just what I really encourage everyone to think like that for yourself. Dreams — we’re at a time where it’s kind of magical.

JAY SHETTY: Absolutely. Well, it’s people like yourself. And even the story you shared today about pivoting — that may not even be the end point. It may not even be the direction.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Part of the journey.

JAY SHETTY: People like yourself, I think it’s really inspiring. When you’re at the top of your game, you can pivot, try something, go, “No, this isn’t me,” and then move again and win. I think watching people do that — people like yourself — have set such a great example for everyone.

And everyone around you will tell you the opposite, by the way. Like, when I wanted to start doing this, everyone’s like, “Jay, know your lane. Just do your thing. Know your lane.” And I was just like, well, what is my lane? I didn’t know this existed 10 years ago. It’s the worst advice.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah. Never stay in your lane.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: That’s like the worst advice. Because everyone is running so hard to find a lane. When you have something that’s unique — which you do about yourself — you can pivot that into anything. Creativity is not limited to a bonus. If you’re a writer, you could write a screenplay.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah, totally.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: You could write a script. You could turn that writing and problem solving skill set into production. You could turn production into directing. I’m just talking about my field because I just know my field. But even being able to pivot and navigate within the industry or the medium that you know is really cool — to open your mind up for that. Never, ever actually stay in your lane.

JAY SHETTY: Yeah. Well, you’ve set the standard and you’ve paved the way and shown a great example.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Thank you.

JAY SHETTY: Happy to get your mentorship and guidance and all the steer and insights you have for me.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: For sure. Anytime. I’m so excited for you.

JAY SHETTY: Thank you.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: I can’t wait to hear more about it.

JAY SHETTY: You’re so sweet.

Related Posts

• TRIGGERnometry: w/ Freya India – How the Internet Ruins Young People (Transcript)
• Diary Of A CEO: w/ Divorce Lawyer James Sexton (Transcript)
• On Purpose Podcast: w/ Relationship Coach Matthew Hussey (Transcript)
• On Purpose Podcast: w/ Sabrina Zohar on Modern Dating (Transcript)
• Mel Robbins Podcast: w/ Terry Real on Transforming Modern Relationships (Transcript)