Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas has revealed in her new memoir, Unfinished, that she underwent a botched nose surgery in the early 2000s that left her face looking “completely different” and feeling “devastated and hopeless.”
The procedure, known as a polypectomy, was meant to remove a polyp in her nasal cavity.
However, during the surgery, the doctor accidentally shaved the bridge of her nose, causing it to collapse.
Chopra Jonas writes that she had been suffering from a “lingering head cold” in the summer of 2001, which she believed to be a “very bad sinus infection.”
She ended up seeing a doctor recommended by a family friend, who discovered the polyp in her nasal cavity that needed to be surgically removed.
At the time, Chopra Jonas thought the procedure sounded “pretty routine.”
However, when the bandages were removed and the condition of her nose was revealed, she and her mother were horrified by the outcome.
“My original nose was gone. My face looked completely different. I wasn’t me anymore,” she wrote.
The botched surgery left Chopra Jonas feeling “devastated and hopeless.”
She writes that every time she looked in the mirror, a stranger looked back at her and she didn’t think her sense of self or self-esteem would ever recover from the blow.
The aftermath of the surgery was made even more difficult due to Chopra Jonas’ newfound fame.
She writes that the media gave her the nickname “Plastic Chopra” after the surgery and that the name has followed her throughout her professional life.
She says she has felt “dared to give an explanation for the obviously different nose” over the years, but has chosen to keep it private.
“I am an entertainer. That’s what I’ve signed on to do, and that’s what I love doing. I will say my lines, dance my dance, hit my mark. I’ll do my best to make you laugh, and I’ll do my best to make you cry, but just because I’m a public person doesn’t mean everything about my life has to be public knowledge. I get to choose what I share and when I share it,” she wrote.
Chopra Jonas ultimately underwent multiple corrective surgeries to fix the damage done during the polypectomy.
She writes that it took a few years of seeing a stranger gazing back at her every time she looked in the mirror, but she has now gotten accustomed to her new face and has made peace with this “slightly different” version of herself.
“This is my face. This is my body. I might be flawed, but I am me,” she wrote.
Unfinished, which hits bookshelves today, includes Chopra Jonas’ reflections on the pressures of breaking into the acting industry, red carpet dress malfunctions, and more.
Chopra Jonas rose to global fame in 2000 when she was crowned Miss World.
She has since become a successful actress and has appeared in numerous films and television shows in India and the United States.
