Priyanka Chopra says racism is what fuels Meghan Markle scrutiny

Priyanka Chopra has spoken about her friendship with Meghan Markle in a new interview with The Sunday Times Magazine. The actress, who met the now-Duchess of Sussex back in 2016 at an ELLE Women in Television event, detailed how the new mum deals with constant scrutiny and insists that she hasn't changed at all since joining the royal family.

When asked about how Meghan deals with negative headlines, Priyanka said: 'I've seen that and it's really unfortunate.

'But if there's anyone who can handle it, it's her. Of course it has to do with racism, it's an obvious reason. But the beauty of Meg is that she's been herself through all of this. A lot of people got to know her after everything, but I knew her before and she's the same chick.'

'Now that she's got a real platform, she talks about the same things she always did,' Priyanka continued.

'We spent hours speaking about the difference that influence and dialogue can make to the world before this whole thing happened, so what you see now is authentically her. She's always been the girl wanting to move the needle.'

Priyanka previously opened up about her personal experience with racist bullying, telling the Associated Press: 'I was treated differently because I’m brown.

'I had, you know, really racist behaviour when I was in high school in 10th grade.

'I was called "Brownie," "Curry," [and told to] "go back on the elephant you came on," and that really affected me when I was a kid and affected my self-esteem.'