Priyanka Chopra recalls her daughter’s premature birth in the NICU: “I didn’t know if she would make It”
The actress also claps back at those who commented on her and Nick Jonas’ decision to choose surrogacy: “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
Priyanka Chopra has spoken out about the harrowing months that followed the birth of her and Nick Jonas’ kid, as well as their decision to choose surrogacy.
In an interview with British Vogue nearly a year after their daughter, Malti was born, the actress described the moments when her daughter had to be delivered prematurely, a full trimester before her due date.
“I was in the OR [operating room] when she [her daughter] came out,” she recalls. “She was so small, smaller than my hand. I saw what the intensive-care nurses do. They do God’s work. Nick and I were both standing there as they intubated her. I don’t know how they even found what they needed [in her tiny body] to intubate her.”
Malti’s birth required the new parents to visit the newborn critical care unit every day for the next three months. “Every single day, we spent with her on my chest, on my husband’s chest,” Chopra explained. “I wasn’t sure if she’d make it or not.”
Then, in May 2022, Jonas turned to social media to announce the birth of their daughter had finally come home. “On this Mother’s Day we can’t help but reflect on these last few months and the rollercoaster we’ve been on, which we now know, so many people have also experienced,” the singer wrote at the time. “After 100-plus days in the NICU, our little girl is finally home.”
Throughout the journey, the Love Again actress said they preferred to remain private, but regarding their decision for surrogacy, she said, “I had medical complications, so this was a necessary step, and I’m so grateful I was in a position where I could do this. Our surrogate was so generous, kind, lovely, and funny, and she took care of this precious gift for us for six months.”
And to those who decided to express their uninvited thoughts on the couple’s decision, the actress remarked, “You don’t know me. You have no idea what I’ve been through. And just because I don’t want to make my or my daughter’s medical history public doesn’t give you the right to invent whatever the reasons were.”
Chopra and Jonas married in the actress’ native India in 2018. Over the course of nearly a week, the couple had two ceremonies: a traditional Hindu ceremony and a Christian ceremony.
When speaking about her husband, Chopra said he is “a wise man beyond his years.” Following the birth of their daughter, the actress added that she gets “affirmations from him [Jonas] all the time, to remind me of my value when I forget or when I get insecure. He just sees through the fog for me. He sees the best in people.”