Priyanka Chopra Jonas details racist bullying she experienced when she was 15

Priyanka Chopra Jonas opened up about the racist bullying she experienced while attending high school in American in her forthcoming memoir, Unfinished, which will be released on Feb. 9. The actress, who was born in India, revealed that people at her high school tormented her so much that she returned to India to finish her schooling. 

"I took it very personally. Deep inside, it starts gnawing at you,” Priyanka explained to People. “I went into a shell. I was like, ‘Don’t look at me. I just want to be invisible.’” The White Tiger actress said that her confidence was stripped, and she had always considered herself a confident person. “But I was very unsure of where I stood, of who I was,” she added.

The 38-year-old actress was raised by her parents in India until she decided to move to America to live with her extended family when she was 12. She lived with relatives in New York City, Indianapolis and Newton, Massachusetts, where she says the bullying began.

In her memoir, Priyanka said that other teenage girls would yell things like, “Brownie, go back to your country!” and “Go back on the elephant you came on” when she was walking down the hall of her high school. She said that she tried her hardest to ignore the bullies and had a close group of friends that she would spend time with.

The Quantico actress even sought help from the guidance counsellor. “I don’t even blame the city, honestly. I just think it was girls who, at that age, just want to say something that’ll hurt,” she wrote, according to People. “Now, at the other side of 35, I can say that it probably comes from a place of them being insecure. But at that time, I took it very personally.” 

Her experience at the Massachusetts high school made the actress pick up her life again and move back to India, calling it her break up with America. Shortly after, Priyanka went on to became Miss World 2000, which helped her gain her confidence back. We wonder how those bullying teenage girls felt after seeing those headlines. If only they knew she was on her way to marry a Jonas brother. 

“I was so blessed that when I went back to India, I was surrounded by so much love and admiration for who I was,” she said of her return. “Going back to India healed me after that experience in high school.” Priyanka credits her dad’s advice for helping her move forward in life. He helped her leave her baggage behind. “In America, I was trying not to be different. Right? I was trying to fit in, and I wanted to be invisible,” she explained. “When I went to India, I chose to be different.”

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She went back to school and began to participate in extracurriculars. "People were like, 'Oh my gosh, you're so good at this,'" Priyanka reflected. "[That] built my confidence, having made new friends who were amazing and loving and doing actual teenage things. Going to parties, having crushes, dating, all the things, the normal stuff. It just built me up."

The Sky Is Pink actress hopes that her story encourages others who have been bullied. "Insecurity becomes small as soon as you talk about it with someone you trust: A therapist, a counsellor," she said. "I feel like a lot of people spend their time when they're feeling dark [in isolation]. That's the worst thing to do, is to feel sad alone." She explained that “sadness is very seductive,” and it can suck you in, but you have to look at it and find your way out of the darkness. She said the best way to do that is by talking to people in your life who care about you. 

Priyanka has opened up about her feelings of self-doubt stemming from the bullying she experienced before. In an October 2018 interview with Cosmopolitan India, she said, "Look, I'm not a superhero. It's not like I don't have insecurities or fears. Of course, I do. I get frustrated, I get overwhelmed, I get upset.”

She revealed that she grew up with self-esteem issues, and noted that she was also bullied in India. "Not everyone knows this, but I had self-esteem issues when I was growing up — I was dark, and you know how in India, when you're dark, you're not considered pretty. So I was bullied and called names, and that made me extremely conscious," she said.

Priyanka said that confidence helped her win in life. “And that comes from teaching myself that when I walk into a room I will not be less than anyone else. It doesn’t matter how I look it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s the way I carry myself. And that, I think, anyone can teach themselves.” Three snaps in a Z formation for Priy.

She also reflected on the girls who bullied her in high school in an interview with New You Magazine in 2015. The actress said that she was really scared at the time and she felt like she couldn’t deal with the bullying anymore. After she returned to India, she woke up one day and said enough is enough. “The colour of my skin, the hair I have — there are so many things about me that may not be conventional. But as soon as I chose to own it and walk out the door wearing confidence, people looked at me differently,” she said. 

This lesson in confidence has been brought to you by Priyanka Chopra Jonas. 

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