Priyanka Chopra is a multi-hyphenate with a lot of achievements to her name. This cycle of success began when she was crowned the Miss World at the age of 17. She may have made it look easy, but it was not. As Priyanka spoke to Oprah Winfrey for her show Super Souls, she opened up about how she was simply trying to keep her head over the water at that point of time.

“I was thrown into the deep, and so badly. I didn’t come from a pageant family,” Priyanka said about being crowned Miss World, “I didn’t come from desiring that. I never thought I could be part of it. At 17, when you’re thrown into this crazy world of pageants internationally and movies, I was just trying to keep my head above water at that point.”

Miss World led inevitably to Bollywood. The actor, who has mentioned how she was made to feel uncomfortable by a director, was asked by Oprah why she didn’t stand up to him and whether she regrets it now.

Speaking about the incident, Priyanka had said in Unfinished that she was supposed to perform a seductive dance number in a film, “The director suggested I speak to my stylist, so I called him and briefly explained the situation, then passed the phone to the director. Standing right in front of me, the director said: “Jo bhi ho, chaddiyan dikhni chahiyen. Nahi toh log picture kyon dekhne aayenge?” which translates as “whatever happens, panties should be seen. Otherwise, why would people come to watch the movie?” wrote Priyanka. The actor said she had quit the film the next day.

Referring to the episode, Priyanka said she always had a strong sense of self-worth even at a young age. “I was told to have an opinion in a room that disagreed with me. I was always encouraged to have a voice.”

However, she said she did not call out the director. “I was so scared. I was new in the entertainment business and girls are always told that ‘you don’t want to get a reputation of being hard to work with.’ So I worked within the system.”