Priyanka talks about career, changes in life

Speaking at BRIDGE Summit 2025, the world’s largest debut media event, actor and producer, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, said she has never been one to be confined to a box.

“I have to constantly fight to get out of the box. I don’t want to be in the box because we are just always put in boxes. Whether it’s the kind of films we do, whether it’s the kind of roles we have. If you’re a mother and you’re a homemaker, you’re in that box. You have to fight really hard to be able to convince everyone around you that you can do something else, too,” Priyanka noted while in conversation with Anas Bukash, Founder & Host, #ABtalks; CEO, Bukhash Brothers.

“People are a mix of so many things to give to the world that all of us have the ability to do whatever we want to, when we want to, because we’re all changing. We’re constantly evolving. Today I’m someone that I definitely wasn’t 10 years ago. So, I think it is very interesting for people to do various things.”

During the session titled “Mastering Your Craft in a World Obsessed with More,” the actor said, “When I talk about the pivots in my career, most of them have not been choices. Most of them have been because circumstances were such that I had to do something else to survive. But, my nature is such that if I do something, I will do my best to do it at 100%.”

“To give you an example, in the early 2000s, I remember I had six movies that flopped back-to-back. So I knew that I had to do something that was different. This career that had... come to me... would be gone. And I took up [the film] ‘Fashion’ at that time. It was a movie that was led predominantly by me and two other girls, but a female-led movie, which at that time was, oh, her career must be over if she’s doing a female-led movie. But I had to do that and I did that. And it was one of the good pivots that I made,” she continued.

Sharing about her cross-Atlantic journey, Priyanka spoke candidly about what prompted the move. “When I went to start doing music in America, it was not something I seeked. Circumstances became such that I just wanted to try something different. So, my very varied career has been a sum of my destiny, which has put me in situations that I needed to react to and also a lot of hard work. So I think God has. Or something larger has been kind of pivoting me.”

Asked if she has become selective with her choices now, the global icon said: “When I first started working, I was not selective at all. Whatever work I would get, I would do because in my job and in my industry it’s tough to just get the work. So I would say ‘yes’ to everything.”