4 min readChennaiFeb 4, 2026 08:35 PM IST
From the bylanes of Bollywood to global domination, Priyanka Chopra has risen and represented India on the global stage like only a few artistes are able to do. The actor, who was born in Jharkhand and lived in Bareilly for several years, was just 17 years old when she won the title of Miss India. However, before this, her parents had sent her to the US when she was 13 for her education. When she returned home after living in the US for a few years, she was a teenager who dressed and spoke like an American.
This became a problem as mnay boys in Bareilly started following her whenever she stepped out. This led to her parents worrying about her security, and they even asked Priyanka to dress down and stop wearing western outfits.
‘Boys started following, put up iron bars after boy jumped in the house’
In an old interaction with Lehren Retro, Priyanka’s mother Madhu Chopra spoke about the same. She recalled how they enrolled the Dostana actor in a convent school in Bareilly after her return from the US and ensured she was picked up and dropped off in a car so that they could keep her safe. But this did not stop boys from following her. “We put her in a convent school. We would pick and drop her in the car because her father was strict that you can’t go anywhere alone. Boys started following our car so it started getting unsafe,” she said.
Things became serious when a boy jumped into Priyanka’s house, prompting her “overly protective” father, who “did not want any kind of trouble,” to put up iron fences across the house so that not even a monkey could enter. “One day, a boy jumped our fence and entered our house. That was scary. The next day, her father covered the entire house with iron bars. From the boundary to the terrace… even monkeys couldn’t enter. That house is still the same,” she said.
‘Priyanka stopped wearing western outfits’
Madhu and Ashok soon realised that their daughter was not meant for a small town and decided to move to a bigger city, possibly Delhi. “He said we will put her in the army school so she can move with us,” she recalled. She added, “We were like chote sheher mein badi machhi (small fish in a big pond) and then you can’t have anybody coming into your house and messing with you toh humara bhi toda rutba tha hi (we also had a good reputation).”
However, Priyanka’s parents did not just tighten security around her; they also asked her to reassess her wardrobe and stop wearing western clothes. Recalling how Priyanka changed her wardrobe completely after a serious conversation with her father, Madhu said, “I don’t know what conversation they had. The next day, she came back from school and said she wants to go shopping. I took her and she selected such dull and drab clothes… all salwar kurtas. She selected colours like off white, brown, beige to look dull,” she said, adding, “I don’t know what he said. She never told me and he also didn’t tell me but this was the reaction. After that, she did not wear western clothes in Bareilly.”
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However, Priyanka did not stay in Bareilly for long. She applied for Miss India and soon moved to Mumbai to participate in the pageant. She went on to win Miss India and later Miss World 2000. She began her film career in 2002 with the Tamil film Thamizhan, in which she starred opposite Vijay. She made her Hindi film debut with Sunny Deol’s The Hero: Love Story of a Spy and gained widespread fame with her second Hindi film Andaaz, where she starred alongside Lara Dutta and Akshay Kumar.
Priyanka Chopra with her parents during the 14th Screen Awards. (Express archive photo)