Smoker Priyanka Chopra had it coming for her double standards – asthma or not

Illustration by Soham Sen | ThePrint

Actress Priyanka Chopra was trolled – again – for smoking a cigarette on a yacht in Miami. Priyanka was incidentally celebrating her birthday with husband Nick Jonas, her mom Madhu Chopra and friends. While both Nick and Priyanka’s mom can be seen smoking cigars, what caught the attention of netizens was the cigarette in Priyanka’s hand.

Priyanka Chopra choking on the smoke caused by crackers! pic.twitter.com/pAucZTEXqU

— Sanjay Dixit ಸಂಜಯ್ ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್ संजय दीक्षित (@Sanjay_Dixit) July 21, 2019

The number one question on Twitter was: How could she smoke when she had said she suffers from asthma? Last year on Diwali, Priyanka Chopra had revealed that she has asthma and appealed to Indians to not burn firecrackers. She had paired up with Cipla for the video ad, which shows her living a full life despite having asthma.

Those who know me well know that I'm an asthmatic. I mean, what’s to hide? I knew that I had to control my asthma before it controlled me. As long as I’ve got my inhaler, asthma can’t stop me from achieving my goals & living a #BerokZindagi.

Know more: https://t.co/pdroHigNMK https://t.co/P50Arc9aIo

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) September 17, 2018

After the latest paparazzi photo, troll and fans are now questioning whether Priyanka really had asthma in the first place. One Twitter user quickly piped in: “It was #Hindu smoke that chocked her.”

People have also dug up her old tweet where she said “smoking is awful” and pointed out Priyanka’s “hypocrisy“.

https://twitter.com/Golu29/status/1152600204652118016?s=19

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is no stranger to the troll brigade. Only a few weeks ago, she was trolled for wearing a saree without a blouse for a photoshoot. Where’s the sanskar, they asked the desi girl.

Even so, this time, she should have seen it coming.

We all know that celebrities do not practice what they preach and they, of course, have the right to live their lives as they want, making choices that suit them. But they also have to remember they are public figures and there is a huge population of fans who blindly follow them, trying to copy their lifestyle, mannerisms, etc.

People already had their antennae up when, late last year, the actress opted for fireworks in her grand wedding. Double standards, some Indians had called it.

And if you have been a dedicated Twitter scroller long enough, you’ll also realise people have been attacking Priyanka for trying to stop Hindus from burning crackers during Diwali for a while now.

So, before Priyanka says ‘choice’ again, she should pick her ads carefully. Preferably, not ones with life-threatening diseases.

This is the era of call-out culture. Stars are no longer unreachable in the sky. Every single action is scrutinised, called-out and put under the microscope.

Actresses Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut are recent examples of this. Soon after Deepika Padukone was spotted outside filmmaker Luv Ranjan’s residence in Mumbai, Deepika’s fans started tweeting with the hashtag #NotMyDeepika asking her to not work with the filmmaker who was named in the #MeToo movement for sexual harassment. Meanwhile, actress Kangana Ranaut was called out for her tiff with a PTI journalist for not giving good reviews to her film Manikarnika. Kangana blasted media persons for being biased towards her and her films, which led to a huge outrage on Twitter and also led to her being boycotted by the Entertainment Journalists Guild.

With social media boom, stars have no other option but to listen. Surely, Priyanka Chopra must have read the tweets about her smoking habits by now.

And while we love and respect Priyanka for her work and how she deals with trolls and criticism, she should have been careful with smoking in a place where she could be easily snapped by paparazzi. Or, alternatively, not smoked at all – since she wants to be a role model for women and young girls.