Priyanka Chopra Jonas joins Jay Shetty in the studio for her second On Purpose appearance, exactly five years after their first digital interview. The global actor, producer, and entrepreneur discusses her latest film The Bluff, a 19th century pirate action thriller on Amazon Prime Video, and her upcoming collaboration with RRR director S.S. Rajamouli on Varanasi.

The conversation explores Priyanka's evolution from her relentless career-driven twenties to finding peace in her current phase of life. She opens up about the challenges of transitioning from Bollywood to Hollywood, the traumatic premature birth of daughter Malti at 27 weeks, and how marriage to Nick Jonas has transformed her approach to relationships and self-reflection.

Throughout the discussion, Priyanka reflects on lessons learned while writing her memoir Unfinished, which helped her examine her past with compassion rather than judgment. She shares practical tools for managing anxiety, the importance of appreciating people while they're alive, and how becoming a mother has fundamentally changed her priorities and perspective on control.

From Relentless Ambition to Finding Peace at 42

"I ran really fast for a really long time, and it was all I knew" - Priyanka describes her career-driven past versus discovering peace in her current life stage

The shift came through a confluence of factors: marriage to Nick Jonas, moving countries, working at a different pace, and becoming a parent

"I really romanticized not taking time off" - she now prioritizes family time, nesting, and allows herself days off without guilt

This is the first time she feels agency in controlling her life's speed rather than feeling pushed into pivots by external circumstances

Learning Emotional Intelligence from Nick Jonas

Early in their marriage, Nick taught Priyanka to address feelings before jumping to solutions during arguments

"Let's talk about how we're feeling, and then we'll be able to move on to a solution" - Nick's approach that transformed their communication

Nick's "quiet confidence" and natural leadership drew Priyanka to him - "he has this quiet confidence, which makes him like a natural leader"

Their engagement happened within six months of their first date, with Priyanka feeling compelled to follow his decisive leadership

Mental Health Tools for Managing Self-Criticism

"Thoughts are not facts" - Priyanka's key tool for managing anxiety and spiraling thoughts by returning to factual reality

"Is this a constructive thought?" - her first filter for determining whether anxious thoughts deserve mental energy

"When you're holding on to something really, really tight, you're exhausting your muscles" - on learning to release control and trust the universe's direction

Her therapist identified being overly hard on herself as a character trait she's actively working to change

Malti's Traumatic Birth and 110-Day NICU Journey

"She was purple... their little finger was too big for her mouth" - Malti was born at 27 weeks weighing 1 pound, 11 ounces

"I just shut down. I sat in front of a fireplace for nine hours" - Priyanka's initial reaction to the premature birth news

They spent 110 days in the NICU doing shifts for skin-to-skin contact, with Nick singing guitar and Priyanka playing Hindu mantras

"I will go to the ends of the earth to protect you" - the moment she first held Malti and felt her protective instincts activate

Media forced them to announce the birth within three hours, adding public pressure during their most vulnerable time

The Dark Transition from Bollywood to Hollywood

"I was feeling like I was drowning and I was suddenly pulled out" - music became her bridge from feeling cornered in Bollywood to breathing again

The transition included losing her father, moving countries alone, living in hotel rooms, and starting over professionally at auditions

"That first time when I walked into audition hall, and there were all of these girls on a chair" - the humbling reality of competing for roles again

She worked with acting coaches for months to deliver English dialogue naturally, as her brain was tuned to improvising in Hindi

Lessons from Writing Her Memoir and Appreciating People

Writing Unfinished was "a really critical experience" that helped her examine her past by talking to friends and family to corroborate memories

"Perception is definitely not reality" - the memoir process taught her that memory is subjective and her younger self did what was necessary to survive

After her father's death, she realized people should hear appreciation while alive: "Why didn't you say that to him when he was here?"

She now practices reaching out to people with appreciation texts, creating "a butterfly effect of just niceness"