Jay Shetty PodcastPRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS EXCLUSIVE: The Full Story of Her Daughter's Traumatic Birth
Jay Shetty and Priyanka Chopra Jonas on priyanka Chopra on motherhood, fame, faith, and career pivots.
In this episode of Jay Shetty Podcast, featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Jay Shetty, PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS EXCLUSIVE: The Full Story of Her Daughter's Traumatic Birth explores priyanka Chopra on motherhood, fame, faith, and career pivots Priyanka describes a major life shift from relentless ambition to valuing peace, family time, and the “luxury” of unstructured time.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Priyanka Chopra on motherhood, fame, faith, and career pivots
- Priyanka describes a major life shift from relentless ambition to valuing peace, family time, and the “luxury” of unstructured time.
- She explains how becoming a parent—and her relationship with Nick Jonas—helped her access emotions, practice patience, and replace self-criticism with more constructive inner dialogue.
- She recounts her career pivot from Bollywood to the U.S., detailing feeling cornered professionally, enduring loneliness and grief after her father’s death, and rebuilding through music and acting auditions.
- Priyanka shares the traumatic NICU experience surrounding her daughter Malti’s extremely premature birth, including being forced to announce the birth before knowing the outcome, and the daily ritual of showing up with strength, prayer, and teamwork.
- The conversation also covers coping with public negativity, the importance of appreciation while people are alive, and using entrepreneurial thinking to turn bold ideas into new opportunities.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasPeace can be a skill you deliberately practice, not a personality trait.
Priyanka frames peace as allowing herself to slow down after years of running on ambition and survival-mode work ethic, choosing a pace she controls for the first time.
Replacing self-judgment starts with two mental checks: usefulness and reality.
Her tools are to ask whether a thought is constructive and to remember “thoughts are not facts,” which interrupts spirals of anxiety, fear, and self-berating.
Relationship conflict often resolves faster when you name feelings before solving problems.
She describes learning from Nick to separate emotional validation from solution-mode, finding that acknowledging “how we feel” changes the entire direction of an argument.
Public scrutiny doesn’t disappear—so boundaries and reframing become protective practices.
She normalizes gossip as timeless (“people always talked”) and emphasizes limiting the power of comments by remembering it’s not others’ business and filtering reactions through self-talk.
Major career reinventions require ‘erasing’ past status and focusing on craft.
In moving to the U.S., she describes starting over through auditions, accent work, English dialogue delivery, and coaching—using professionalism and skill as her competitive edge.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIt's having time to waste. What a luxury. Not spend, because it's a currency, time, I feel like with your family, with people you love or on the job.
— Priyanka Chopra Jonas
When you're holding onto something really, really tight, you know, you're, you're exhausting your muscles.
— Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Thoughts are not facts.
— Priyanka Chopra Jonas
She was purple. Um, and, like, we didn't know.
— Priyanka Chopra Jonas
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 'cause she was so vulnerable.
— Priyanka Chopra Jonas
QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE
5 questionsPriyanka, when you say you now value “time to waste,” what does that look like in a normal week—what do you protect and what do you say no to?
Priyanka describes a major life shift from relentless ambition to valuing peace, family time, and the “luxury” of unstructured time.
You mentioned feeling “cornered” professionally in Bollywood—what were the specific signs that told you longevity wasn’t possible in that situation anymore?
She explains how becoming a parent—and her relationship with Nick Jonas—helped her access emotions, practice patience, and replace self-criticism with more constructive inner dialogue.
In the NICU period, what were the most practical coping routines (daily rituals, decision systems, shifts with Nick) that helped you get through 110 days?
She recounts her career pivot from Bollywood to the U.S., detailing feeling cornered professionally, enduring loneliness and grief after her father’s death, and rebuilding through music and acting auditions.
You were forced to announce Malti’s birth before knowing the outcome—what boundaries or lessons did that experience create for how you share family moments publicly now?
Priyanka shares the traumatic NICU experience surrounding her daughter Malti’s extremely premature birth, including being forced to announce the birth before knowing the outcome, and the daily ritual of showing up with strength, prayer, and teamwork.
Your two tools—“Is this constructive?” and “Thoughts aren’t facts”—can you walk through a recent example where they changed your reaction in real time?
The conversation also covers coping with public negativity, the importance of appreciation while people are alive, and using entrepreneurial thinking to turn bold ideas into new opportunities.
Chapter Breakdown
Joy in motherhood & learning to slow down
Priyanka shares that her biggest source of joy today is her daughter, and reflects on how her pace of life has shifted. She describes moving from relentless ambition and perfectionism to allowing herself more stillness and domestic joy.
The luxury of “time to waste,” not just time to spend
They explore Priyanka’s reframing of time as the ultimate luxury—especially time that isn’t owed to work or obligations. She explains this is the first pivot that feels truly self-directed rather than forced by circumstance.
Nick’s sincerity and Priyanka’s shift toward vulnerability
Priyanka reacts to Nick’s recent interview and describes how his honesty on camera inspired her. She shares how media training and public life can make authenticity difficult, and how she’s experimenting with being more open.
Parenting dynamics: rules, rhythm, and being aligned
Jay asks about their parenting styles and Priyanka explains how she and Nick coordinate decisions. She describes herself as more schedule- and rule-oriented, while emphasizing that they stay unified as a team.
Therapy insights: patience, letting go, and self-forgiveness
Priyanka opens up about being hard on herself and how therapy helped her notice it as a trait. She explains how motherhood changed her patience and reduced her need for control, and why she now forgives her younger self’s survival strategies.
Stopping the inner “gut punch”: tools to manage spirals
Inspired by Nick’s song, Priyanka shares practical mental tools for interrupting negative thought loops. She emphasizes validating feelings while remembering that thoughts are not facts.
Quiet confidence, leadership, and learning to follow
Priyanka explains what drew her to Nick: a calm, grounded leadership style. They discuss how quiet confidence is often overlooked, and why trusting a partner to lead can feel deeply reassuring.
Handling scrutiny & mean comments without losing yourself
Priyanka and Jay discuss public speculation, internet narratives, and online cruelty. Priyanka reframes it as amplified gossip that always existed, emphasizes boundaries, and returns to her “constructive thought” practice.
Bollywood to America: feeling cornered, finding air, starting over
Priyanka addresses claims she was pushed out of Bollywood and describes feeling limited and needing movement to survive. She recounts how music became an unexpected bridge to the U.S., followed by loneliness, grief, and rebuilding her acting career from auditions upward.
Appreciation while people are alive: a new practice
After her father’s death, Priyanka reflects on how people often praise others only after they’re gone. She shares her habit of texting appreciation in real time and how it creates a ripple effect of kindness and usefulness.
The traumatic birth of Malti: NICU, fear, and forced publicity
Priyanka recounts the traumatic premature birth of her daughter at 27 weeks and the shock of seeing her in critical condition. She describes the long NICU journey, their shift-based presence, and the distress of being forced to publicly announce the birth before knowing the outcome.
From survival to meaning: faith, forgiveness, and gratitude
Looking back, Priyanka processes the ‘why’ of such a hard journey and arrives at acceptance that it led to the life and family she has now. She explains how Indian spirituality and her relationship with Lord Shiva provide comfort and resilience, culminating in rituals at home after Malti’s discharge.
Nick’s letter & practicing love out loud
Jay reads an emotional letter from Nick praising Priyanka’s character in private moments and their teamwork as a family. Priyanka shares how Nick consistently expresses love and how rereading old notes reinforces the power of saying it often.
Fun wrap: games, creative projects, and bold pivots
They end with ‘Would You Rather’ and ‘Gut Reaction,’ touching on Priyanka’s stunt work in The Bluff, her return to Indian cinema, and a poignant working-mom moment. The conversation closes with advice about entrepreneurship, not staying in your lane, and turning bold ideas into opportunities.
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