Priyanka Chopra opened up about her botched facial surgery in the early 2000s which led to her being called the “Plastic Chopra”.
The 40-year-old actress — who attended the Met Gala with her husband Nick Jonas on Monday — revealed during a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Howard Stern Show about removing a polyp in her nasal cavity that went wrong.
“It happens, and my face looks completely different, and I go into a deep, deep depression,” she explained.
Chopra said she was fired from film projects and even feared the botched surgery would prematurely end her career.
At the time she was reluctant to go under the knife, but her late father Ashok – who happened to be a doctor himself – persuaded her to undergo corrective surgery.
Dye red close-up: Priyanka Chopra (seen last week) opens up about her botched facial surgery in the early 2000s that led to her being called the ‘Plastic Chopra’
Before and after: Priyanka is seen in London in November 2000 Left; Pictured last week in Los Angeles on the right
“I was terrified of it, but he said, ‘I’ll be in the room with you,'” she explained.
“He held my hand through it and helped rebuild my confidence.”
As far as getting her confidence back on the big screen, Chopra has credited Bollywood director Anil Sharma for definitely helping her get back in front of the camera.
She explained, “I was supposed to play this role, and I was passed on to a supporting character. This director was very nice.
It will be a small part, said he, as the tide was against me, but give it your all. And I did.’
Chopra provided more details about the botched surgery and its aftermath in her autobiography – titled Unfinished – which was released in February 2021.
At the time she said it led to some haters calling the former beauty pageant queen “plastic Chopra”.
She was young when she noticed a benign tumor in her nasal cavity that needed surgery to remove it.
Chopra (pictured in 2000) explained: “This thing is happening, my face looks completely different, and I go into a deep, deep depression.”
Sad: Chopra said she was fired from film projects and even feared the botched surgery would prematurely end her career; She was seen at the final of Miss World in London in November 2000
“He held my hand through her and helped rebuild my confidence”: her late father Ashok—who happened to be a doctor himself—convinced her to get corrective surgery; They were seen together in March 2010
Fortunately, polypectomy seemed to be a pretty routine procedure. Unfortunately, that was not the case,” she wrote in her book.
The surgeon accidentally shaved the bridge of my nose and the bridge collapsed. And the star, who is already famous in her native India for her looks, was horrified.
“My original nose is gone,” Priyanka said. My face looked completely different. It was not me.
Bad surgery lost her job – she says in the book that she was fired from two movies.
“All the talk about body parts and skin color has left me feeling shattered, invisible, and uncertain about my future,” said the Baywatch star.
She added, “After experiencing the repercussions of my supposedly simple polyp removal, I realized I wasn’t willing to follow the course he had laid out for me, even if he was right, as the super-successful guru.”
“…my difference is my strength. If I looked like ‘classically beautiful’ girls, I wouldn’t stand out, and most importantly, I wouldn’t be myself.
Priyanka has had “many corrective surgeries” and is now used to that face.
Support System: Pictured with husband Nick Jonas at the Met Gala on Monday
Chopra went into more detail about the botched surgery and its aftermath in her autobiography – untitled Unfinished – which was released in February 2021 in which she says she has been dubbed “Plastic Chopra”.
Now when I look in the mirror, I am no longer surprised; I’ve made peace with this little different me… I’m like everyone else: I look at myself in the mirror and think maybe I can lose a little weight; I think maybe I can work a little more than that. But I am also satisfied. This is my face. This is my body. I may be flawed, but I am.
And at the time, the red carpet favorite refused to explain what happened.
I dared to give an interpretation of a completely different nose, but I chose a path that I then followed in all the years that followed. I decided there was a line I was going to draw in my life,” wrote boy band Nick Jonas’ wife.
She felt that she owed no explanation to anyone.
She began, “I am an artist.” That’s what I signed up to do, and that’s what I love to do. I’ll say my lines, dance my dance, and hit my mark. I will do my best to make you laugh, I will do my best to make you cry, but just because I’m a public person doesn’t mean everything in my life has to be public knowledge. I can choose what and when I share.
Chopra can currently be seen starring alongside Richard Madden in the spy TV series Citadel which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.