Priyanka Chopra has opened up about the shocking moment a Bollywood director asked to see her underwear while on set.
The actress opened up about her early experiences in the industry and the "dehumanizing" moment the unnamed film director made the comments.
The 40-year-old actress, who is married to Nick Jonas, 30, told The Zoe Report: "This may have been 2002 or 2003. I’m undercover, I’m seducing the guy – obviously, that’s what girls do when they’re undercover. But I’m seducing the guy and you have to take off one piece of clothing [at a time].
"I wanted to layer up [but] the filmmaker was like, 'No, I need to see her underwear. Otherwise, why is anybody coming to watch this movie?'"
The Citadel star continued: "He didn’t say it to me, he said it to the stylist in front of me. It was such a dehumanizing moment.
"It was a feeling of, 'I’m nothing else outside of how I can be used, my art is not important, what I contribute is not important.'"
After the uncomfortable experience, Priyanka revealed that she walked off the set two days later at the encouragement of her father, and even paid back the production for what they had spent on her at her own cost.
She revealed: "I just couldn’t look at [the director] every day," after knowing the comments he had made.
Priyanka ended up choosing to leave Bollywood entirely after feeling that the politics behind the scenes was getting too much for her.
She explained on Dax Shepherd's Armchair Expert podcast in March: "I was being pushed into a corner in the [Bollywood] industry.
"I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, I am not good at playing that game so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break."
The actress has since been enjoying life as a mother after she and husband Nick welcomed their daughter Malti a year ago in January via surrogate.
She had made the decision to freeze her eggs on the advice of her mother who is an OB-GYN after experiencing "anxiety and pressure about wanting kids but being 35 years old."
Priyanka admitted the decision of starting a family made her hesitant to begin a relationship with Nick, who she married in 2018, saying: "I always knew I wanted kids, which was one of the big reasons I didn’t want to date Nick at that time,” she said, explaining that she wasn’t sure where he stood on starting a family.
"I was like, 'I don’t know if he wants kids at 25,' at that time. But I’ve always wanted kids. I love kids."
She believes freezing her eggs was a great decision as it gave her the "freedom" to "continue on an ambitious warpath that I wanted to achieve."
While she acknowledged that the expensive procedure isn't an option available to everyone, she would encourage anyone that is thinking about it to go ahead.
"I tell all my younger friends: the biological clock is real," she revealed. "It’s the best gift you’ll give yourself because you’re taking the power from your biological clock, and you can work until however long you want."
