Priyanka Chopra Jonas opened up about what it was like using a surrogate in a new cover story with British Vogue.
For context, last January Priyanka and Nick Jonas surprised many people by announcing that they had welcomed a baby girl named Malti. As British Vogue notes, the announcement was met with some backlash from people who speculated that Priyanka was “renting” a womb and “outsourcing” her pregnancy for vanity reasons.
While Priyanka wants to keep the specifics private, she told the publication, “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.”
“I’ve developed a tough hide when people talk about me,” she continued, addressing the negative response. “But it’s so painful when they talk about my daughter. I’m 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 continued. “I’ve been really protective of this chapter of my life with my daughter. Because it’s not about my life only. It’s hers too.”
Indeed, Malti was born prematurely at six months and had to spend three months in the NICU. “I was in the OR when she came out. She was so small, smaller than my hand,” Priyanka explained. “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.”
Ultimately, Priyanka had a clear message for people who speculated why she decided to use a surrogate. “You don’t know me,” she said. “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.”
You can read the full interview here.
