Priyanka Chopra talks about dark period living in New York: ‘My body needed to mourn, knew that bottom had been hit’

In several stages of her life, Priyanka Chopra had to start out being a newcomer as she moved to a new location. As a teenager, she attended high school in the US. She later shifted to Mumbai after joining Bollywood, and in 2015, she moved again to the US after she got the lead role on the American television show Quantico. The actor discussed going through low levels of confidence and how she had to teach herself to be positive again. (Also read: Citadel review: Priyanka Chopra is the best thing about Prime Video’s expensive but average new series)

The actor also went through an extended time of grief after her father’s death in 2013 from cancer. When she was later living in New York and shooting for Quantico in 2016, Priyanka said she underwent a dark chapter in her life, where she was living away from friends and family and couldn’t shake off being sad. The actor also shared that because she had adapted to so many new environments as an outsider, she was able to eventually adjust.

Speaking to Hoda Kotb from the Today Show, Priyanka shared how she learnt to cope with the hard situations in life. She said, “I think in different phases of my life, I kind of taught myself or learned how to be my own hype girl. And it helped me navigate many crazy situations.”

Referring to her time in New York, she added, “I’ve thought about that phase in my life a lot. And my body needed to mourn, my heart needed to mourn, and yeah, you know, I needed pizzas to do it. I allowed myself to do that…pizza and a bottle of wine and a sh*tty movie. I reached a point where I knew that bottom had been hit. And now, the only way was up.”

Priyanka is recently promoting her Prime Video series Citadel with co-star Richard Madden across the world. The film has already had premieres in London, Rome and Los Angeles. The spy thriller’s first season premiered on April 28 and the finale will stream on May 26. The actor also has the rom-com Love Again with Sam Heughan, Celine Dion and Russell Tovey lined up for release in May.