In a recent interview, Miss World 2000 Priyanka Chopra praised the virtues of Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen and Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai.
In a recent episode of the Read The Room podcast with Cavanaugh James, Priyanka Chopra expressed admiration for Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, highlighting their remarkable achievements on a global level at a young age. Aishwarya Rai made history by winning the Miss World crown in 1994, becoming the second Indian to do so after Reita Faria Powell in 1966. Sushmita Sen was the first Indian to clinch the Miss Universe title, also in 1994.
“Our family would attend the pageant.”
Priyanka responded, “In my country, beauty pageants are really revered; they were really looked up to, especially the Miss India pageant and the Miss World pageant,” when asked about her “remarkable” overnight change from a teenager to a beauty pageant winner. My country had a string of ten consecutive winners, so things are a little different now. I believed that pageants in America had a negative connotation, and we did not experience that as children. Thus, yes, I was intrigued when India competed; our family enjoyed watching the pageant.”
‘Look at these women doing so well on a global scale’
“I remember that year, Miss World and Miss Universe, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, were both from India,” Priyanka continued. “That was 1993 or 1994.” In my room, I also had a small collage made out of newspaper clippings featuring Aishwarya and Sushmita. It’s not like I wanted to be her, though. I thought, “Wow, these young ladies are succeeding so well throughout the world.” I’ve always been interested in that, but I never wanted to pursue it. Therefore, I actually rode that and did not fight it when I was thrown into it because I truly thought that I was somehow the kid of destiny.”
Priyanka’s Miss World journey
At the age of eighteen, Priyanka was declared the winner of the Miss World 2000 beauty contest. Because her brother Siddharth Chopra had submitted her images for the contest without her consent, she was able to participate in the Miss India competition.
After her Miss World title, Priyanka entered the cinema industry and acted in her first Tamil film, Thamizhan (2002), before appearing in her first Bollywood film, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003).
