Priyanka Chopra 's memoir titled "Unfinished " is filled with stories about her life and career.- Many of the stories will be surprising to fans because the actress hasn't shared them before.
- For example, she sent a security member to spy on
Nick Jonas for her when he took her mom to lunch.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas' new memoir titled "Unfinished" is stuffed with humorous anecdotes, heartbreaking stories, and new revelations about her life and career.
The book, released on February 9, details the 38-year-old actor's childhood in India (and abroad) and her rise to fame. Though Chopra Jonas has previously talked about many milestones in her life, she's even more outspoken and vulnerable in "Unfiltered."
Here are the most surprising details from Chopra Jonas' memoir.
1. She felt abandoned when her parents sent her to boarding school at 7 years old
Parents Ashok and Madhu Chopra sent their daughter to La Martiniere Girls' College because her father believed she needed to learn discipline.
Chopra Jonas says in chapter two of her book that the feeling of being abandoned lasted for a prolonged period of time and she struggled to adjust to her new living situation.
Each time her mom visited her at the school was traumatizing and resulted in plenty of tears, so her parent was told to stop visiting because it was making the experience more difficult for Chopra Jonas.
After going six months without visits from her mom, she stopped questioning why she was sent there in the first place and "began to settle in" and thrive.
It also instilled a sense of independence that Chopra Jonas has carried with her throughout her life.
2. She got escorted out of the Museum of Modern Art as a teen when she reached out and touched Van Gogh's famed 'Starry Night' painting
In chapter three, Chopra Jonas talks about visiting the MoMa with her relatives after moving to Queens, NY. She recalled being "utterly fascinated by the deep swirls of color and texture" in Van Gogh's art, so much so that she reached out and touched it.
Chopra Jonas says that "a nearby security guard swooped" in and escorted her and her family out of the museum, much to her cousin's embarrassment.
"I was mortified that I was the reason all of us had gotten kicked out," she writes. "Somewhere inside, though, I was also silently exhilarated."
3. At 14 years old, she stuffed her then-boyfriend in her closet to avoid getting caught by her aunt who she was living with at the time in America
After living in NY, Chopra Jonas and her relatives rejoined other family members in Indianapolis, Indiana. There, she met her first boyfriend, who she refers to in her novel as "Bob" to protect his privacy.
Because Chopra Jonas wasn't allowed to date, she circumvented the rule by confining their relationship to school grounds.
The actress says that she tried to "outsmart" her clever aunt Kiran on many occasions, which only fueled her suspicions. Chopra Jonas' sneaking around caught up to her when her aunt showed up at the house earlier than usual one afternoon, just as she and her boyfriend were about to have their first kiss together on her couch.
With no way for the boy to escape undetected, Chopra Jonas "shoved him into my closet." But her aunt found him anyway and scolded her for being deceitful.
4. Her dad had wrought iron bars installed on the windows of their house after a guy followed her home after tutoring, jumped their gate, and climbed to the balcony of her room
Chopra Jonas says that when she left her home country for America at almost 13 years old, she was "gawky." When she returned years later at 16, her body matured and she looked more "womanly," which caught the attention of boys.
The actress says that in order to catch up on her academics, she and other girls traveled via a rickshaw to a tutor's home and "sometimes boys would follow on their bikes."
Chopra Jonas says she was unfazed by the attention, but her father took it seriously when one guy trespassed on her family's property. To prevent that from happening again, he had bars installed.
5. At one point, her goal was to study aeronautical engineering at a college in Australia
Prior to entering the pageants that changed her life, Chopra Jonas planned on becoming an aeronautical engineer.
"I'd always been fascinated by the physics and modern technology," the star writes in chapter four of her book.
She became particularly interested in aeronautics the first time she flew on a plane. As a teen, Chopra Jonas was interested in pursuing that career path in Melbourne, which had an aeronautical engineering program that intrigued her.
To complete the application, she needed to include a passport-style photo, so she went to a studio at a nearby mall, and that eventually led to her taking additional photos - which her brother and mom then submitted to the Miss India World contest without telling her.
6. She had a 'crazy tendril of hair swirling down over my left eye' at the Miss World 2000 competition because of a curling iron mishap
Chopra Jonas' hair was in a sophisticated up-do for Miss India World in January 2000, where she was crowned the winner. In her book, the actress reveals that the section of hair that cascaded over one side of her face was put there to conceal a blemish.
Earlier in the day, she used a curling iron to touch up her hair, but "with all the congestion, I got jostled and accidentally burned my forehead with the hot metal."
Chopra Jonas tried to cover the resulting scab with foundation, but that wasn't enough - hence the piece of hair in the front.
7. Her signature namaste pose that she frequently does at red carpets originated at Miss World 2000, as a way to keep her strapless dress from falling down
In all the hustle and bustle of the Miss World 2000 competition in November of that year (which she won), Chopra Jonas says that the tape that was put on her body earlier in the day to keep her strapless dress in place had loosened due to perspiration.
To hold her dress up, Chopra came up with a solution on the spot.
"I pressed my hands together in a namaste and kept them close to my body as much of the time as I could in an effort to hold my gown up," she writes in her book.
8. Promoting skin lightening creams was 'one of the biggest missteps of my career and is one of my most profound regrets'
One of the more controversial aspects of Chopra Jonas' career was her involvement in ads for "fairness creams" or products that had lightening properties. In Indian culture, fair skin is considered more beautiful, and Chopra Jonas had her own experiences of feeling "unattractive" because of comments made about her darker skin tone when she was younger.
In retrospect, the actress says that "promoting the destructive messages" of those ads was a major regret. And after realizing her error, she distanced herself from such brand deals.
9. She fell 'into a depression' three years after her dad died
Chopra Jonas' father died in June 2013 after a long battle with a rare form of cancer known as cholangiocarcinoma. The actress said that she walled herself off emotionally afterward and didn't unpack her grief.
Three years later, when she moved from Montreal, Canada to New York City to film the second season of "Quantico," she became depressed because of the weight of her grief.
She describes that period as "a never-ending slump, a long sigh of sadness" that lasted for nearly two years.
Chopra Jonas was consumed by numbness and isolation, and didn't receive support from others because she didn't tell anyone about her struggles.
Eventually, she realized that she missed the lively person she used to be, and began being kinder to herself and being more sociable.
She also healed by allowing herself to "feel the sadness that I hadn't wanted to feel."
10. She sent a member of her security team to spy on Jonas when he first took her mom out for lunch without her
Jonas first visited India in June, shortly after he and the "Baywatch" star started dating. On one of the days when Chopra Jonas was preoccupied with work commitments, Jonas said that he was going to use it as an opportunity to take her mom out for lunch.
"I zipped right into worrying mode," Chopra Jonas writes in chapter nine, explaining that she couldn't help but be concerned about what they'd talk about during the meal and if they would embarrass her.
She was consumed by the possibilities during a meeting that day, so "unable to take the suspense any longer, I sent a member of my security team out to take pictures of them at the restaurant they'd gone to."
Chopra Jonas says she asked the security member to "spy on them" and snap photos so she could analyze their body language.
Unbeknownst to her, that was the day when Jonas told her mom that he planned on proposing to Chopra Jonas and wanted her approval.
11. Her foot got pierced by a piece of wood sticking out of the bathroom floor the day before her wedding
On the day of the Mehndi (the pre-wedding henna ceremony) and the Sangeet (the musical celebration), Chopra accidentally "stepped down hard" on a two-inch, spike-like piece of wood that "drove straight into my heel."
A doctor was called to assist, but Chopra Jonas says that she was impatient, so she took matters into her own hands.
With Jonas holding her foot, she drenched it in perfume (because of the product's alcohol) and "pulled the bloody spear out with a pair of tweezers."
Hours later, she attended the two pre-wedding events - and even wore heels at the Sangeet.