Priyanka Chopra says she’s the only ‘millennium’ Miss World: ‘There won’t be another one in our lifetimes’

At the Miss World 2000 beauty pageant, Priyanka Chopra, who was then 18, was crowned the winner. The actor recalled her Miss India days, and also reflected on her Miss World title as she spoke about the pageant that was held at the Millennium Dome in London, United Kingdom. In a new interview, Priyanka said she was the ‘millennium Miss World’. Also read: Former Miss Barbados claims Miss World 2000 was ‘rigged’ in India’s favour, says ‘Priyanka Chopra was unlikable’

When asked about her beauty pageant days, Priyanka said that in India, pageants were ‘really revered’. She added there is a lot of importance given to ‘how eloquently you speak, how you behave’. Priyanka also spoke about how she found out about being selected for Miss India 2000, and recalled telling her mom Madhu Chopra at the time that she ‘so famous’ that even the runners of Miss India pageant knew her. Priyanka also said she had a ‘really high opinion’ about herself because she had come ‘back from America’ to India around that time.

When asked if beauty pageants were a ‘whole industry’ in India, like they are in the US, Priyanka said on The Howard Stern Show, “No, they (Miss India pageant runners) gave us 30 days for prep. Now, I am a competitive girl, and I am very prep-oriented… excepting me everyone else at the pageant was a model. They made us meet experts for hair and makeup, elocution, speaking, talking, walking; all of that happened over 30 days… I just observed, and learned and learned, and absorbed as much as I could. I was like the one thing I can do is be smart up there (on stage during the pageant), and I know that in India, they look for that. You want the person representing the country to be well-spoken, presentable, traditional, a good ambassador for your country.”

Priyanka went to speak about how she competed against ’96 women from around the world’ at the Miss World 2000 pageant. She said, “I was 18. Jerry Springer, RIP, was our host that year. It was in London, it was called the millenium year. So, I am the millenium Miss World. I guess there is not going to be another one in our lifetimes… it (the Miss World pageant) was a matter of life and death for me. There was nothing else that mattered for me. I was like an athlete. I was like ‘Now that I am here, I can’t lose it. I am too near, too close. I didn’t aim for this, but now that I am here, I see the finish line’. It was just that I am competitive.”

After Priyanka was crowned Miss World 2000, she joined films and made her acting debut in the Tamil movie Thamizhan (2002), followed by her first Bollywood film, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003). Her web series Citadel premiered on Prime Video last year. Her upcoming projects include the rom-com Love Again with Sam Heughan and Celine Dion.