Priyanka Chopra has recalled the mental health impacts of undergoing a botched nose surgery when she was a teenager.
The 40-year-old actor, who attended the Met Gala on Monday with husband Nick Jonas, opened up about how the surgery impacted her self-esteem and mental health in an interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show.
After she was crowned Miss India World in 2000 at the age of 17 (followed by a Miss World win later that year), the Bollywood actor was told that she had a polyp in her nasal cavity that would require surgery to be removed.
The Citadel actor explained, via MailOnline: “This thing happens, and my face looks completely different, and I went into a deep, deep depression.”
When she underwent corrective surgery, she admitted that her father Ashok comforted her.
“I was terrified of that, but he was like, ‘I will be in the room with you.’”
“He held my hands through it and helped me build back my confidence,” she said.
In her memoir, Unfinished, released in 2021, Chopra Jonas described how the surgery nearly put the brakes on her career.
She wrote that people sometimes referred to her as “Plastic Chopra” after the surgery.
“Fortunately, a polypectomy sounded like a pretty routine procedure. Unfortunately, it wasn’t,” she wrote.
The doctor “accidentally shaved the bridge of my nose and the bridge collapsed”.
“My original nose was gone,” she said. “My face looked completely different. I wasn’t me.”
“Every time I looked in the mirror, a stranger looked back at me, and I didn’t think my sense of self or my self-esteem would ever recover from the blow,” she added.
Rumours began to spread about her changed appearance. Chopra claimed she was dropped from two planned movies when producers heard that her face had changed after surgery.
“My career, a career based so much on physical appearance, seemed to be over before it had even really started,” the actor said.
Fortunately, she was able to receive “several corrective surgeries” over time and has long since regained confidence in her appearance.
“I’ve gotten accustomed to this face,” she wrote. “Now when I look in the mirror, I am no longer surprised. I’ve made peace with this slightly different me.”
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
