Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas recently recalled the time in her life when she was so focused on getting ahead in her career that she would give personal commitments and coming home on festivals like Diwali a miss.

In conversation with fashion editor Tiffany Reid for the Marshalls Good Stuff Social event, Jonas said she was forced to take a hard look at things after her father, Dr Ashok Chopra, died.

“I don’t remember how many of my mother’s birthdays I have forgotten or I might have missed. How many times I forgot to call her in my 20s, how many times I missed Diwali because I am working in Europe and they don’t have Diwali there. I just skipped and missed... Till my dad died and I didn’t have another Diwali to be with him,” said the 41-year-old.

The Citadel actor, who shared a close bond with her father, lost him to cancer in 2013. That incident, she said, grounded her.

“When he got sick, it was a really big [thing]. I think that was a very momentous moment for me, where I realised that life is short. We worry about so many trivial things when there are so many big things for us to worry about. I think focusing on that brings you to the ground,” Jonas shared.