Two Miss World crowns, two consecutive years, and one very candid interview. Former Miss World Yukta Mookhey didn’t hold back when she was asked about her successor, Priyanka Chopra, who won the title in 2000, just a year after Yukta brought it home in 1999.
In a recent chat with Filmymantra Media, Yukta was asked if there was anything she particularly admired about Priyanka. Her answer? A straight-up “Nothing.” No blink. No hesitation. Just a smile and a blunt mic drop.
Naturally, the interviewer was a little stunned, but Yukta doubled down. “She’s junior to me. She took advice from me,” she said, hinting that it wasn’t exactly a two-way admiration society. Apparently, Priyanka’s parents even reached out to Yukta’s folks before the big pageant. But when asked why she doesn’t hold Priyanka in the same light, Yukta vaguely concluded, “I don’t think she is the right person for you to ask me at this moment.” Oof.
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However, the tone quickly shifted when Yukta reminisced about other pageant queens. She gushed over Juhi Chawla, Miss India 1984, who welcomed her with grace and kindness. “Juhi said I was so tall and beautiful, and encouraged me to go international,” Yukta recalled fondly. “She didn’t see me as competition—that takes greatness.”
Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, and Diana Hayden also made Yukta’s appreciation list. “Sushmita cheered me on, said she was proud. Aishwarya—so graceful, so dignified. And Diana was like a big sister,” she said, crediting Diana Hayden with mentoring her through the tough bits of Miss World prep, from pageant etiquette to Hindi etiquette.
Yukta’s film career may have been short-lived, but her candidness clearly isn’t. Today, she’s more focused on philanthropy, but once a queen, always a queen—with or without filter.