At a hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the middle of a relentless stretch of days, priyanka chopra remembers the rules that shaped everything: only one parent allowed in at a time, the steady rhythm of monitoring, and the sound that first broke through the fear—her daughter’s cry, “like a cat. ” It was, she has said, a personally traumatic period, made sharper by not knowing what would happen next.
What happened during Malti Marie’s premature birth and NICU stay?
Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her husband, singer Nick Jonas, welcomed their daughter, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas, surrogacy in January 2022. They had been expecting her in April, but complications led to an early delivery. Malti spent more than 100 days in the NICU; Priyanka Chopra Jonas has also described the stay as 110 days.
In remarks shared from Jay Shetty’s podcast, Priyanka described going with her daughter to intensive care, and being allowed in one at a time. Her mother and in-laws flew down, she said, but the couple remained at the hospital as they faced an uncertain and overwhelming wait.
Nick Jonas has described the circumstances as “very intense, ” recalling that they received a call that the baby would arrive sooner than expected. He said Malti arrived weighing 1 pound 11 ounces and required six blood transfusions, along with constant monitoring. He also described a routine of 12-hour shifts at the hospital for 3. 5 months so that one of them was always present.
Why did priyanka chopra say they “weren’t ready” to announce the birth?
During the same period of hospital visits and uncertainty, Priyanka said the news of Malti’s birth leaked. She recalled receiving a text that the birth would be made public within a matter of hours if they did not announce it themselves. The result, she said, was that they felt forced into sharing the news before they were emotionally prepared.
Her reason was simple and raw: they wanted to hold onto their own narrative, but they did not know what would happen with their daughter or how she would be. In that narrow window—when the days are measured in oxygen levels and tiny movements—control over timing can feel like the last thing a family has.
How did faith and daily rituals help during the NICU months?
Priyanka described leaning on faith as the NICU days stretched on. She said Nick would sing to Malti on his guitar, while she played recorded mantras—Mahamrityunjay Mantra, Gayatri Mantra, and Om Namah Shiv mantra—softly inside the crib throughout the day.
She also spoke of the circle of concern around the baby: many people praying, a child “very desired, ” “very coveted, ” and “treasured, ” and the sense that her daughter’s journey “to get to this planet” had been hard.
Nick Jonas, reflecting on the long hospital stretch, described the experience as both comforting and frightening, and said it was visceral enough that he can still remember the smell. He also recalled seeing other families living through similar circumstances, a reminder that NICUs are communities formed by necessity, where private fear is shared in public hallways.
How has Priyanka Chopra Jonas described Malti’s personality today?
In an interview for Marie Claire’s March 2026 Craftsmanship Issue, Priyanka Chopra Jonas described Malti as a “born performer, ” saying the four-year-old loves to “sing at the top of her voice. ” She told Lola Ogunnaike that her daughter will stand in the middle of a room telling jokes and singing.
For Priyanka, the wonder is not only that her daughter is loud and fearless, but that she is a surprising mix of family histories—“my husband, her grandparents, her ascendants, ” she said—arriving as a new person each day. She called Malti “the greatest gift of my life, ” and said her priorities have changed so completely that “everything starts and ends with her. ”
What changed in her work life after becoming a parent?
Priyanka Chopra Jonas has said that parenthood made her more discerning about the jobs she takes, especially because her work can pull her out of the country regularly. In the Marie Claire interview, she explained that she no longer tries to “juggle all the balls and do all the things” the way she once did.
Instead, she described listening to her gut, becoming more instinctive, and finding power in saying “no”—something she said used to be difficult. It is not presented as a grand reinvention, but as a practical response to a new reality: a child who once needed round-the-clock vigilance has reshaped the value of time away.
Alongside that shift, she described an enduring emotional afterimage of the NICU months: constant fear when her daughter is not right by her side—at school, or when Priyanka is in another country—an anxious feeling she compared to “your heart… running outside of your body. ”
Back in the memory of that hospital corridor, the first small cry still carries its weight. Yet in the present, Priyanka Chopra Jonas describes a child who fills rooms with jokes and song—proof that a beginning defined by monitors and strict visiting rules can still grow into a life that feels, as her parents have said in different ways, like a gift that has to be noticed every day.
