Priyanka Chopra says she and Nick Jonas decided to have their baby via surrogate because she had 'medical complications': 'This was a necessary step'

• Priyanka Chopra spoke to British Vogue about her and Nick Jonas welcoming a daughter via surrogate.
• The actor said that surrogacy was "a necessary step" because she "had medical complications."
• Their baby, Malti Marie, was born prematurely in January 2022 and spent more than 100 days in the NICU.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas said that she and her husband Nick Jonas chose to have their first child via surrogate because of medical complications and reacted to people who criticized that decision. 

"I had medical complications," Chopra Jonas, 40, said in her cover story for the February 2023 issue of British Vogue, released on Thursday.

The actor added that surrogacy "was a necessary step, and I'm so grateful I was in a position where I could do this. Our surrogate was so generous, kind, lovely, and funny, and she took care of this precious gift for us for six months."

Chopra Jonas and Jonas, 30, welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Malti Marie, in January 2022. 

In her interview with British Vogue, the "Baywatch" star detailed her journey of becoming a mother and her challenges. Chopra Jonas said that she's "developed a tough hide" to deal with criticism, but wouldn't stand for people passing judgment and speculating about her reason for having a baby via surrogacy. 

"It's so painful when they talk about my daughter," she said. "I'm like, 'Keep her out of it.' I know what it felt like to hold her little hands when they were trying to find her veins. So no, she's not going to be gossip."

"You don't know me," Chopra Jonas said. "You don't know what I've been through. And just because I don't want to make my medical history, or my daughter's, public doesn't give you the right to make up whatever the reasons were." 

The actor said she's been particularly "protective" about her family since welcoming a daughter. 

When the couple first announced the birth of their first child in January 2022, they posted a simple statement on their Instagram accounts and refrained from sharing details such as the newborn's birthday, name, or sex. 

A few months later, Jonas spoke about the "rollercoaster" experience of parenthood in an Instagram post honoring his wife on Mother's Day. He shared a photo of the family of three but covered their baby's face in an effort to protect her privacy. 

In his Instagram caption, the Jonas Brothers member revealed that their child spent more than 100 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before being released to their home. 

"Every family's journey is unique and requires a certain level of faith, and while ours was a challenging few months, what becomes abundantly clear, in retrospect, is how precious and perfect every moment is," he said. 

Chopra Jonas elaborated on her daughter's premature birth and time in the NICU, telling British Vogue: "We spent every single day with her on my chest, on my husband's chest."

"I didn't know if she would make it or not," she said.