Priyanka Chopra may have left Bollywood years ago, but she's finally explaining what led to that decision.
Before Priyanka moved to America, she was a massive star in India. In 2000, she was crowned Miss World and went on to appear in numerous Bollywood films.
But she left that all behind to pursue a career in Hollywood, a decision she says stemmed from tension she felt in India.
"I was being pushed into a corner in the industry," Priyanka explained during an appearance on the Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard podcast.
She continued, "I had people not casting me for reasons. I had beef with people...I was tired of the politics. I was just like, 'I need a break.'"
In 2011, Priyanka had the opportunity to take her talents stateside when Universal Music Group signed her to a record deal with DesiHits.
"This music thing gave me an opportunity to go into another part of the world, not crave for the movies I wanted to get but would require to schmooze certain clubs and cliques of people," Priyanka said. "It would require, like, groveling and I had worked for a long time by then that I didn’t feel like I wanted to do it."
So when Priyanka got the opportunity to pursue music, she "was like fuck it" — and moved to America.
"I’m gonna go to America, and Interscope was amazing. They threw the building at me. I worked with Pitbull, I worked with Will.i.am, I worked with Pharrell...I had dinner with Bruce Springsteen and his wife. I was living the dream," Priyanka said.
While music gave her the chance to escape Bollywood, Priyanka says that after releasing "four lonely singles" and recording about 100 other songs, she realized singing wasn't for her.
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Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine helped her sign with American talent agency CAA — and she became "the first actor from [her] part of the world to be signed" by the company.
From there, Priyanka says she had to put in the work to establish herself as an actress in the US — especially considering she hadn't been required to audition for anything in Bollywood in years.
Incredibly, her breakthrough show Quantico ended up being one of her first auditions — and the rest was history!
