Priyanka Chopra recently opened up about her pageantry journey and said that she really looked up to Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen.

Priyanka Chopra recently heaped praise on Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen.

Actor Priyanka Chopra recently expressed admiration for icons Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, crediting them for their early success on the global stage. Aishwarya scripted history by becoming Miss World in 1994, while Sushmita was crowned the first Indian Miss Universe in the same year. In a recent episode of the “Read The Room” podcast with Cavanaugh James, Priyanka praised them, while discussing how she never harboured aspirations of entering beauty pageants herself. Nonetheless, Priyanka was crowned the winner at the Miss World 2000 beauty pageant.

The actor said, “In my country, pageants are really revered, they’re really looked up to, especially the Miss India pageant and the Miss World pageant. There was like a decade, winners back to back from my country. I was interested when India participated and our family would watch, it was really fun.”

Priyanka Chopra reveals she kept newspaper clippings of Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen winning Miss World and Miss Universe

Priyanka Chopra, who was Miss World 2000, praised Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai and Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen in a new interview.

Priyanka Chopra gushed about Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen in a new episode of Read The Room podcast with Cavanaugh James. She spoke about them ‘doing so well on a global scale’ at a young age. Aishwarya Rai created history by winning the Miss World crown in 1994. With this, she became the second Indian to wear the crown after Reita Faria Powell (1966). Sushmita was the first Indian to win the Miss Universe title. She also won the pageant in 1994.

Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai were crowned Miss World in 2000 and 1994, respectively.

‘Our family would watch the pageant’

Asked about her ‘remarkable’ journey from a teenager to a beauty pageant winner overnight, Priyanka said, “In my country, beauty pageants are really revered; they were really looked up to, especially the Miss India pageant and the Miss World pageant. There was a decade of winners back-to-back from my country, and it is a little different. I felt in America, pageants have a bad rap (reputation), and we did not have that growing up. So yes, I was interested when India participated, our family would watch the pageant and it was really fun.”

‘Look at these women doing so well on global scale’

Priyanka added, “I remember 1993 or 1994, Miss World and Miss Universe, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, were both from India that year. And I had little snippets from the newspapers in like a little collage in my room (of Aishwarya and Sushmita). But it wasn’t like I wanted to be her. It was like ‘Wow look at these young women doing so well on a global scale’. So, I was always curious about that, but I never wanted to go after that. So, when I was thrown into it, I really believed I was destiny’s child in some way, and I really ride that and I do not fight it.”

Priyanka’s Miss World journey

At the Miss World 2000 beauty pageant, Priyanka, who was then 18, was crowned the winner. She went to the Miss India competition because of her brother Siddharth Chopra, who had sent her photos for the pageant without her knowledge.

After Priyanka was crowned Miss World, she joined films and made her acting debut in the Tamil movie Thamizhan (2002), followed by her first Bollywood film, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003).