Priyanka Chopra Recalls ‘Dehumanizing’ Moment With Director That Made Her Walk Off the Film

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is opening up about a painful moment she experienced when she first got her start in Bollywood.

The actress told The Zoe Report in an interview published Tuesday that a director once insisted she show her underwear, which led her to quit the film.

The scene, which Chopra Jonas said was being filmed around 2002 or 2003, involved her seducing her co-star.

"I'm undercover, I'm seducing the guy — obviously that's what girls do when they're undercover," Chopra Jonas recalled. "But I'm seducing the guy and you have to take off one piece of clothing [at a time]. I wanted to layer up. The filmmaker was like, 'No, I need to see her underwear. Otherwise why is anybody coming to watch this movie?'"

While noting that the director didn't say it to her directly — "He said it to the stylist in front of me," Chopra Jonas explained — the actress called the experience "dehumanizing" and said she felt like her "art" and contributions were "not important."

After two days of work, Chopra Jonas walked off the film, using money out of her own pocket to pay back production. "I just couldn't look at him everyday," she said.

The Citadel actress has spoken out about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the industry, showing her support for the #MeToo movement while appearing at 2019's Women in the World Summit. She called that form of abuse the "norm" before the movement took off.

"We always had a voice. Just nobody heard us. Now because of the support we're giving each other, nobody can shut us down. And that's an incredibly powerful thing to see," Chopra Jonas said. "Now, if I have a story, I don't feel I'm alone anymore - and I'm not ashamed of it."