‘I had medical complications’: Priyanka Chopra opens up about having daughter Malti via surrogacy

"We spent every single day with her on my chest, on my husband’s chest. I didn’t know if she would make it or not," she said in the interview

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas with their daughter. (Photo: Priyanka Chopra/Instagram)

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‘I had medical complications’: Priyanka Chopra opens up about having daughter Malti via surrogacy

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A year ago, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas welcomed a baby girl – Malti Marie Chopra Jonas – through surrogacy. Sharing a succinct note on Instagram, the parents wrote, “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.”

However, the news soon riled up a section of society who criticised Priyanka for choosing to have a baby via surrogacy. From accusing her of “outsourcing” a “ready-made baby” to questioning her maternal attachment to the baby, the internet was surely not kind to the new mother. Opening up about the same in a new interview with Vogue British, Priyanka said, “I have developed a tough hide when people talk about me.”

“But it’s so painful when they talk about my daughter. I am like, ‘keep her out of it’. I know what it felt like to hold her little hands when they were trying to find her veins. So no, she’s not going to be gossip,” she continues.

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Priyanka said she has been “really protective” about this chapter of her life because “it’s not about my life only, it’s hers too”.

Priyanka’s difficulties upon the birth of Malti weren’t limited to the internet trolls but were largely about the fact that her daughter had to be delivered preterm, a full trimester before her due date. Such “extremely” premature babies are often at risk of incurring significant, long-term health issues. “I was in the OR [operating room] when she came out. She was so small, smaller than my hand. I saw what the intensive-care nurses do. They do God’s work. Nick and I were both standing there as they intubated her. I don’t know how they even found what they needed [in her tiny body] to intubate her,” the Quantico actor shared.

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Priyanka went on to reveal that for the next three months after Malti’s birth, the couple had to shuttle daily to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). “We spent every single day with her on my chest, on my husband’s chest. I didn’t know if she would make it or not.”

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Briefly sharing why she opted for surrogacy, she said, “I had medical complications. This was a necessary step, and I’m so grateful I was in a position where I could do this. Our surrogate was so generous, kind, lovely and funny, and she took care of this precious gift for us for six months.”

Addressing the internet trolls, Priyanka said, “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through. And just because I don’t want to make my medical history, or my daughter’s, public doesn’t give you the right to make up whatever the reasons were.”

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