Priyanka Chopra Wants You To Know She Is Her Own Person
The actress responded to an awkward moment she had with comedian Rosie O'Donnell.
Priyanka Chopra is her own person, and she wants to be seen that way.
The Quantico actress spoke about the importance of recognizing individuality after an uncomfortable exchange with Rosie O’Donnell.
The run-in happened Monday (February 21) at Nobu in Malibu, where O’Donnell and her family were sitting at a table near Chopra and her husband, Nick Jonas. The comedian, seeing them, walked over to say hello.
“Seated next to us at Malibu, at Nobu, was Nick Jonas, and his wife … someone Chopra, which I always assumed was Deepak Chopra’s daughter,” O’Donnell said in a TikTok video.
She continued, “When I said … ‘Hi, I know your dad.’ She goes, ‘You do? Who’s my dad?’ And I’m like, ‘Deepak.’ She’s like, ‘No, and Chopra is a common name.’”
O’Donnell said she was incredibly embarrassed, but evidently did not know who Chopra was. “Didn’t you think that Nick Jonas was married to Deepak Chopra’s daughter? Am I the only one who thought that?” she said in her TikTok clip, referring to the famed Indian-American author and alternative medicine advocate.
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Chopra responded to the incident in an Instagram Story on February 23.
“I have never taken myself so seriously to think everyone would know who I am, or my work for that matter,” she wrote. “But if you wanted to make a public apology for a very awkward private encounter, I think probably best to take the time to google my name before doing it or even try to reach out directly.”
The actress—who has long been an advocate for women’s rights and cultural diversity in the entertainment industry—said all she wants is a little consideration.
“We ALL deserve to be respected for our unique individuality and not be referred to as ‘someone’ or ‘wife’ especially in a sincere apology,” she wrote. “If we can learn to respect our differences in an authentic way, the world we raise our children in, will be amazing.”
She then added that “not all Chopra’s are related to the great Deepak, just as not all Smith’s are related to the legendary Will Smith.”
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Jonas posted his wife’s message on his own Instagram Story. “[Well] said my love,” he wrote.
In a follow-up TikTok video, O’Donnell apologized to Chopra.
She said she had read the reactions to her first video about “Nick Jonas and his wife, Priyanka Chopra, who I mistakenly thought was Deepak’s daughter,” and felt bad about the confusion. She said it was all just “awkward.”
“Anyway, Priyanka is her name,” she said. “Priyanka, I hope I’m pronouncing that right. And I just want to apologize to her and to everyone who thought that it was really inappropriate of me. Sorry, you know, sometimes I fuck up.”
This article originally appeared on Harper's BAZAAR US.
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