It seems like Aishwarya Rai's weight gain controversy will see no signs of a truce unless the actress sheds her post-baby weight.

Though recently touted as the "Most Ideal Celebrity Mother", Aishwarya's weight gain has been a hot topic of discussion following the birth of her first child Aaradhya last November.

After being in the receiving end of harsh criticism, the 38-year- old actress had support flowing in from other fellow actors in the film industry. The latest celebrity to lend her support for the plump actress list is former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen.

The two beauty queens were long known for their rivalry since their glory days in the 90s. However, it now appears that the former Miss Universe and former Miss World have finally reached an amicable relationship.

Sushmita, who is a mother of two adopted daughters, has advised Aishwarya to simply ignore the criticism. She also appreciated Ash for giving importance to her family and her eight-month-old daughter over films.  

"I congratulate Aishwarya on the birth of her daughter Aaradhya. I think she is doing the right thing by taking time out to look after her daughter. She should stop reading what the media writes about her or her weight, and enjoy her life. I do the same. Even my weight was a topic of discussion in the papers a few weeks ago, but I just stopped reading them. Looks do matter up to a certain extent. But it is more important to be fit than skinny," Hindustan Times quoted Sushmita as saying.

"More than looks, it's the confidence with which you carry yourself that counts," Sush added.

The Bachchan bahu is getting a lot of support from Bollywood, with several of the filmi elite getting furious over the continuous criticism.       

Earlier, hubby Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan defended Ash for her weight gain.

During an interview with a newspaper, Abhishek defended his gorgeous wife and said, "I just think it's extremely insensitive and no one has the liberty to speak about her like the way they sometimes do. Yes, she's a public figure, but people forget she's also a woman and now a mother and there's a line that's not to be crossed."

"I don't talk that way about any woman ever and it's obviously not graceful for anyone to talk about her like that either. But maybe that's expecting too much, so to be honest, we kind of not let it affect us at all. Like Aishwarya always says, 'negativity is like one drop in a huge ocean of positivity' and we'd rather be happy about the love and blessings we get," he added.

Even actresses like Kajol, Sonali Bendre and Lara Dutta, who all managed to shed their post-baby weight, defended the actress by saying that her weight gain is of a personal matter.

Actress Raveena Tondon defended the actress on micro-blogging site Twitter where she tweeted: "Aish being a mom will mean much more to her then being miss world or wife AB or Successful actress. Weight she can lose."

"Ash is going the natural way. She cud easily shed off the post pregnancy weight n fat with surgeries. Critics do not see this," she added.