Priyanka Chopra Jonas 'Couldn't Sleep For Days' When Daughter Malti Came Home After 100 Days in NICU

Back in January 2022, the 40-year-old "Citadel" actress and her husband Nick Jonas welcomed their daughter Malti Marie via surrogate. The couple later revealed that their child had been born prematurely and spent more than 100 days in the NICU; Chopra described her being smaller than her hand.

While speaking to Today.com, the actress got real about feeling terrified after learning her first child would be coming earlier than expected.

"I remember [Nick] just held me by my shoulders, and I said, 'Just tell me what to do, because I don’t know what to do,'" Chopra recalled. "And he's like, 'Just get into the car with me.'"

When the newborn parents were finally able to bring Malti home, the "Love Again" star's anxiety didn’t waver, and the absence of NICU monitors and equipment brought new terrors.

"You know your child is alive, because you can see their heartbeat (on the monitor). I couldn’t sleep for days, because now suddenly she was home without a monitor," she continued. "I used to put my ear on her chest. I would wake up every couple of minutes just to see if she was OK. For weeks, this went on."

Priyanka explained that Malti hasnt been without at least one of her parents ever since. When interviewer Hoda Kotb suggested that her newborn’s struggles could be seen as a test for the parents, the actress claimed it was a test of her baby’s strength rather than her own.

"I don't think it was our test. I think it was her test," she explained.  "I realized very, very early that I did not have the luxury to be scared or to be weak because she was scared and weak. And I had to be her strength as her mom."

"I needed to make her feel at every given moment that she's not alone … that we've got her," she noted.

Now that it’s been a year since Malti has left the NICU, Chopra Jonas said that the baby "got me wrapped around her finger."

She told Elle, "I don’t even know how I'll ever discipline her because I just don’t have it in me. I was so close to losing her so many times that she can get away with anything and I just want to see her happy. I want her to be the happiest. She’s a super smiley, happy baby, and that’s all my goal is -- to see her joyous. Every time she smiles, it lights up my world, and that’s all I want to do."