Priyanka Chopra is opening up about her daughter’s harrowing birth story.
“I didn’t know if she would make it or not,” Chopra said in new Vogue UK interview.
Chopra and husband Nick Jonas announced that they had welcomed a daughter via surrogate on their social media on Jan. 21 in 2022. The couple wed in 2018 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
“We are overjoyed to confirm that we have welcomed a baby via surrogate. We respectfully ask for privacy during this special time as we focus on our family. Thank you so much,” the statement read at the time.
Their daughter Malti was delivered a full trimester before her due date, Chopra told the publication. With her delivery considered “extremely premature,” Malti was led right into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Chopra said.
“She was so small, smaller than my hand,” she said, expressing gratitude and awe toward the nurses who quickly intubated and cared for their daughter.
“They do God’s work,” Chopra said.
Malti spent three months in the NICU before she was able to leave the hospital.
At home, Chopra said, the couple has had the help and support of their families.
“They talk me through a lot of this,” Chopra said of Jonas’s parents, Kevin and Denise Jonas. “But because I’m a NICU mommy, the stakes are so high.”
Of their decision to work with a surrogate, Chopra shared that she had “medical complications” and it was “a necessary step.”
With Chopra now returning to the spotlight after a year-long break from acting to focus on her family, the actress expressed how important it is to her to continue to spotlight Indian and South Asian actors with Malti in mind.
“I want her to be able to look back and be proud of my choices,” Chopra said.