Aishwarya Rai on facing body-shaming, being judged: My question is, 'On what basis, do you assume?' [Throwback]

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has always had been at the receiving end of criticism and prejudice. From getting trolled for her acting chops to her Cannes look, the Miss World 1994 has never been spared by people whatsoever. Even when she had gained a lot of weight post her pregnancy and after giving birth to her first child Aaradhya Bachchan in November 2011, Aishwarya had to go through constant judgement about her body.

There's an unwritten rule for Bollywood actress that requires them to always look good, be in perfect shape and maintain their beauty no matter what may come. If not, they would be subjected to cruel jibes, nasty comments. This is how most people look at them and when they fail to meet their certain criteria of a typical Bollywood heroine. And Aishwarya was no stranger to this particular situation when she embraced motherhood.

"It's not just been post motherhood. Contextually, post motherhood, you are referring to specifically body shaming. Because you are looking at it from that aspect of the body frame changing. I am talking about the reason I was able to handle it because I have faced judgement in my life for so long," Aishwarya Rai had spoken at length about the issue of body-shaming which women of all ages go through in an interview with CNN-News18's Rajeev Masand.

She further added, "Articles have often said that 'oh! she has had the fairy tale life.' Yes, I have had a lot of blessings and I'm very grateful for that but my question is, 'On what basis, do you assume?' This again brings that down to judgement. Because of the way you choose to look at something, you decide its cakewalk. People think that if you look a certain way, you won't be judged. But, believe me, irrespective of how you look, everybody faces judgement for something or the other."

Despite facing all the negativity, there never came a point in Aishwarya's life wherein she was in self-doubt. She was very happy in her own life with her daughter Aaradhya and all the positivity around and also because she always had a clear in her head about her herself and where she stands.

"At the end of the day, these are the choices I'm making. Nobody else is dictating or telling me how to be and what to do," she added.