Diving into Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas’ decade-long love story

It's no news that in 2016, after watching Chopra in Quantico, Jonas decided to take a chance and reach out to her on Twitter. “I’m hearing from a few mutual friends that we should meet,” he wrote, suggesting that they go on a date. Chopra gave him her number, and the two began texting. They had found a connection, but neither could have known where it would eventually lead. Their first meeting in person came months later, at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in February 2017. Jonas spotted Chopra across the room and, in a moment that sounds almost too cinematic to be real, got down on one knee. “You’re real. Where have you been all my life?” he famously told her. There was no kiss that night - just a drink, conversation and a connection that neither seemed to forget.

THE 2017 MET GALA IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

The two arrived together in Ralph Lauren, officially calling themselves friends, but something about their chemistry made the “just friends” explanation difficult to believe. They spent time together at the event and afterwards, and even though life soon pulled them in different directions, the impression they had made on each other lingered. Priyanka would later describe Nick as someone she never expected to end up with, while also saying that he was, in retrospect, “tailor made” for her.

And perhaps that is what makes their story feel a little destined. For almost a year, there was no sweeping romance. Then, in 2018, timing finally caught up with them. They reconnected around the Met Gala, and what had once been flirtation quickly became something much more serious. Nick invited Priyanka to see Beauty and the Beast at the Hollywood Bowl, followed by a Dodgers game. By then, the feeling was unmistakable. Nick even called his mother after their early dates and told her he was going to marry Priyanka.

It didn't take long. By June, they were meeting each other's families. Priyanka accompanied Nick to a family wedding in New Jersey, and soon after, Nick travelled to India to meet her family. Their relationship also moved from private texts to public affection, with both beginning to acknowledge each other on social media.

THEN CAME THE BIRTHDAY TRIP THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

In July 2018, Nick proposed in Crete on a day after Priyanka's birthday. He had even shut down a Tiffany & Co. store while choosing her ring. When he finally got down on one knee and asked her to marry him, Priyanka was so overwhelmed that she reportedly took 45 seconds to answer. Two months after they officially began dating, they were engaged. And by December, they were husband and wife.

Their wedding at Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur was extravagant, emotional and deeply personal. Nick embraced Priyanka's culture wholeheartedly, participating in Hindu rituals and celebrating alongside her family. For a relationship that had crossed countries, cultures and continents in such a short time, the wedding felt like the moment two separate worlds became one.

But perhaps the loveliest part of their story is what happened after the wedding - when the cameras went away and the grand celebrations became everyday life. The two have built a marriage around showing up for each other. Their careers have rarely kept them in one place for long, but they have continued finding ways to make their lives fit around one another. And then came another chapter they had both wanted for a long time: parenthood. In January 2022, Priyanka and Nick announced that they had welcomed their daughter, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas, via surrogacy.

Malti's arrival, however, was not the easy beginning they had hoped for. Born prematurely, she spent more than 100 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. Priyanka and Nick later spoke about the frightening months they spent beside their daughter, taking turns at the hospital and navigating an experience that tested them as parents and as partners. Eventually, Malti came home - and the couple entered what they have described as an entirely new chapter of their lives.

Since then, their relationship has become less about grand romantic gestures and more about the little things: family holidays, stolen moments, their daughter growing up and finding joy in ordinary days together. Their travels have become a particularly sweet part of that story. There have been sunny family days in Cabo San Lucas, where Priyanka shared pictures of the three of them relaxing together; trips to Dubai, where they were photographed sailing together; a family escape to Dublin, where Priyanka affectionately called Nick and Malti her “angels”; and a sunny break in the South of France, complete with yacht days and beach time.

And sometimes their adventures are much simpler. In 2024, the family spent a day at Disneyland. In 2025, Nick spoke about enjoying walks in Central Park with Priyanka and Malti while he was performing on Broadway - describing that quiet family time as a way to reset from the intensity of work. That may be the real evolution of their relationship: the extraordinary becoming ordinary, without becoming any less special. The couple who once made headlines simply for walking into the Met Gala together now share the much quieter moments that make up a life - raising their daughter, travelling, supporting each other's careers and finding pockets of normalcy despite living very public lives.

Priyanka has often spoken about the respect at the heart of their relationship. In a 2025 interview, she reflected on how she had eventually learned what she needed from a partner and described Nick as someone who “ticked all the right boxes.” She has also called him one of the best decisions of her life. Nick, too, has never shied away from expressing how much Priyanka means to him. During the difficult months after Malti's birth, he called Priyanka an incredible mother and told her how grateful he was to be on the journey with her.

Almost a decade since that first message, Priyanka and Nick’s story has travelled from a chance Twitter DM to friendship, romance, a whirlwind engagement, a wedding, parenthood and a life built across continents. What makes their journey feel so special is not simply how quickly everything fell into place, but how they somehow found their way back to each other when the timing was right. From red carpets and faraway holidays to raising Malti and finding joy in the quiet, everyday moments of family life, they have continued to grow together while choosing each other through every new chapter. Perhaps that is what makes theirs feel like a love story written in the stars - one that may have been destined to begin, but has been consciously, happily chosen every day since.

Text by Mriganka Singh 

Edited by Sabrina Mathews