She is riding high on success in the US today, but when Priyanka Chopra had first moved to the United States for her high school studies, she didn’t have a nice experience. She faced racial bullying and that affected her deeply.
Chopra was 13 years old when she moved to Massachusetts, Iowa, and New York City.
“In high school, I feel like the kids who were after me didn’t even understand why. I think it’s that they decided that they were more powerful than someone else—me—and when you pick on someone, it’s because you’re insecure. Bullying happens to kids and adults. It happens with positions of power, and we’ve all seen that abused in multiple ways,” she told Marie-Claire.
“It affected me adversely. It affected my confidence; it affected who I wanted to be. I felt exposed, when your skin is raw,” she added.
Earlier in an interview with Associated Press, Chopra had revealed that she was called out for her skin colour too. She was called “Brownie” and “curry”.
“I was treated differently because I’m brown. I had, you know, really racist behavior when I was in high school in 10th grade. I was called ‘Brownie,’ ‘Curry,’ (told to) ‘go back on the elephant you came on,’ and that really affected me when I was a kid and affected my self-esteem”.
She added that she wants to talk about it more because she aims at creating a world where diversity would be a “normal” thing.
“The way we treat people differently comes from cultural subliminal messaging that has happened over eons. I do want to create a world for my future kids where they don’t have to think about diversity, where they’re not talking about it because it’s normal. The more we can talk about it and open other people’s eyes and say, ‘It doesn’t have to be that way,’ and give them more examples, I guess society will change,” she said.
Priyanka Chopra has been her upcoming memoir, Unfinished, which marks her debut as an author.
The book is se to be released on Feb 9. It traces her journey from childhood to Miss World, Indian actress to Hollywood star and more.
