Priyanka Chopra poses with her daughter Malti Marie for UK Vogue

Priyanka Chopra joined her daughter for her stunning cover photo shoot for Vogue UK February 2023 issue.

The actress, 40, posed with Malti Marie, who turned one on January 15, for the photo shoot as she spoke for the first time about her daughter’s rocky start when she was born three months premature.

The doting mom also uses the candid interview to address the criticism she and husband Nick Jonas, 30, received for using a surrogate, insisting that “just because I don’t want to make my medical history public doesn’t give you the right to compensate whatever the reasons.

The new mother was accused by some critics of ‘outsourcing’ her pregnancy so she could focus on her career.

Priyanka told Vogue that while she didn’t want to go into detail about her and Nick’s reasons for choosing a surrogate, she would defend her right to privacy.

“I had medical complications, so this was a necessary step, and I’m very grateful to be in a position where I could do this,” she said.

“I have developed a tough skin when people talk about me,” she added. ‘But it’s so painful when they talk about my daughter. I’m like, ‘Keep her out of this.’

Speaking up: Doting mom uses candid interview to address criticism she and husband Nick Jonas, 30, received for using a surrogate

‘I know what it felt like to hold their little hands when they were trying to find their veins. So no, she’s not going to gossip.’

I have been very protective of this chapter of my life with my daughter. Because it’s not just about my life. It’s hers too.

Malti got off to a rocky start after being born an entire trimester before her due date.

Explaining how she was in the operating room when her daughter was born, Priyanka said: “She was so small, smaller than my hand.”

Mom: Priyanka told Vogue that while she didn’t want to go into detail about her and Nick’s reasons for choosing a surrogate, she would defend their right to privacy.

‘Nick and I were standing there while she was being intubated. I don’t know how they found what they needed. [in her tiny body] to intubate her

For the next three months, the new parents commuted daily to the neonatal intensive care unit to be with their daughter, a difficult chapter that fell during the first wave of omicron in the US.

“We spent every day with her on my chest, on my husband’s chest,” Priyanka recalled. “I didn’t know if she would make it or not.”

Malti has been happily at home with Priyanka and Nick since last spring, and the actress took a year off work to be with her little girl.

‘It’s been 20 years of hustle and bustle and work at breakneck speed. I’ve always been like, ‘What’s next?’ […] “But now I feel like I have a center, a sense of calm, because every decision ends up being about her,” the star said of her new approach to work and life.

The February issue is available on newsstands and digital download on Tuesday, January 24.

Family: Malti got off to a rocky start after being born a trimester early. Priyanka said ‘she was so small, smaller than my hand’ (pictured when they bought her daughter’s house after 100 days)