Speaking at BRIDGE Summit 2025, the world’s largest debut media event, actor and producer, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, said she has never been one to be confined to a box.
“I have to constantly fight to get out of the box. I don’t want to be in the box because we are just always put in boxes. Whether it’s the kind of films we do, whether it’s the kind of roles we have. If you’re a mother and you’re a homemaker, you’re in that box. You have to fight really hard to be able to convince everyone around you that you can do something else, too”, Chopra Jonas noted while in conversation with Anas Bukash, Founder & Host, #ABtalks; CEO, Bukhash Brothers.
“People are a mix of so many things to give to the world that all of us have the ability to do whatever we want to, when we want to, because we’re all changing. We’re constantly evolving. Today I’m someone that I definitely wasn’t 10 years ago. So, I think it is very interesting for people to do various things.”
During the session titled ‘Mastering Your Craft in a World Obsessed with More’, the actor said, “When I talk about the pivots in my career, most of them have not been choices. Most of them have been because circumstances were such that I had to do something else to survive. But, my nature is such that if I do something, I will do my best to do it at 100%”.
“To give you an example, in the early 2000s, I remember I had six movies that flopped back-to-back. So I knew that I had to do something that was different. This career that had… come to me… would be gone. And I took up [the film] ‘Fashion’ at that time. It was a movie that was led predominantly by me and two other girls, but a female-led movie, which at that time was, oh, her career must be over if she’s doing a female-led movie. But I had to do that and I did that. And it was one of the good pivots that I made”, she continued.
Sharing about her cross-Atlantic journey, Priyanka spoke candidly about what prompted the move. “When I went to start doing music in America, it was not something I seeked. Circumstances became such that I just wanted to try something different. So, my very varied career has been a sum of my destiny, which has put me in situations that I needed to react to and also a lot of hard work. So I think God has. Or something larger has been kind of pivoting me.”
Asked if she has become selective with her choices now, the global icon said: “When I first started working, I was not selective at all. Whatever work I would get, I would do because in my job and in my industry it’s tough to just get the work. So I would say ‘yes’ to everything. In my 20s, I wanted to work every day. I wanted to try different things. I didn’t know what I was good at, what I wasn’t good at. I worked really hard. I missed birthdays, I missed when my father was in the hospital. I should have spent every day with him, but he would chase me back to set”.
Highlighting that hard work is romanticized with young people, she further added: “If you don’t work hard, you don’t deserve success, which is not true either. But there’s a time for everything. And that time I needed to work that hard and that 20-year-old me needed to make those sacrifices for this woman to have the life that I have now. Now I can choose when I want to say yes. So, I thank her a lot sometimes. ‘Thank you’, younger self”.
Speaking about the impact of social media, she said, “There’s so much pressure on everyone. Your comments will say something, and it makes your brain think something else. You think that the whole world is only thinking about that. If I’m posting something, you guys have seen it for one second and you’ll scroll down so fast and live your life. So, why are we giving so much credence to each comment?”
The global icon ended the session by stating that her greatest accomplishment is building a happy home. “The kind of home that my family wants to come into and feel rested in. And that takes a sum of many, many decisions. The biggest thing that I protect is my family and my sanity. You take care of those two, the rest can bounce back.”
Her talk forms part of a 300+ session program that reflects BRIDGE Summit’s scale and ambition. The debut edition of BRIDGE Summit takes place from 8–10 December 2025 at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi.
For more information and to register, visit https://www.bridgesummit.com/en/