Rai before she was pregnant with daughter. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)After baby. (Yogen Shah/India Today Group/Getty Images)Not every woman can be like Victoria Beckham and back down to a size 0 just weeks after giving birth. These days in Hollywood, a lot of pressure is put on its female stars to snap back into shape in an incredibly unreasonable amount of time, especially considering that it takes nine months to gain the weight. The latest example of this is Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai — dubbed The Most Beautiful Woman in the World — who is being slammed by critics in India for not upholding her “duty” of returning to her pre-baby figure nearly six months after she gave birth to daughter Aaradhya.

“Aishwarya is like a goddess,” explains Indian columnist Shobhaa Dé. “She is held up as the ideal of beauty and so there is an expectation on her to look perfect at all times.” But not everyone has been so tactful when discussing the weighty matter. Some detractors have posted videos online depicting photos of Rai, 38, pre and post-baby with elephant sounds playing in the background. “She is a Bollywood actress and it is her duty to look good and fit,” one commenter blasted, while another wrote that the L’Oreal model, who was Miss World 1994, “needs to learn from people like Victoria Beckham who are back to size zero weeks after their delivery.”

Regardless of the controversy, Rai still plans to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival this week and proudly show off her curves. Although she hasn’t responded directly to her critics, she did say after the November birth of her first child that she was not concerned with losing the weight and planned to “enjoy motherhood” — as she should be allowed to do without strangers making her feel badly for it.

Howard thin. (Jason Merritt/Getty Images)On Mother’s Day. (NATIONAL PHOTO GROUP)

Earlier this week, photos of “Twilight” actress Bryce Dallas Howard caused a similar uproar. On Mother’s Day, the 31-year-old was snapped in her sweats carrying her 4-month-old daughter — as well as much of the baby weight she gained while pregnant. Many websites mercilessly ridiculed the mother, with one even comparing her size to a “village,” a play on the 2004 movie in which she starred. After the birth of her first child, Howard, the daughter of director Ron Howard, was very open about her struggle to lose the 80 pounds she gained with her now-5-year-old son. “Before Theo was born, I had been in good humor about my 80-pound weight gain, but I was now mortified by it,” she wrote in a post for Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP blog. “I felt I was failing at breast-feeding. My house was a mess. I believed I was a terrible dog owner. I was certain I was an awful actress.”

Duff pre-baby. (Lester Cohen/WireImage)Today, after a workout. (Splash News)

New mommy Hilary Duff faced similar scrutiny less than a month after she delivered son Luca on March 20. Although she almost immediately returned to the gym and her favorite Pilates and yoga classes, people still found something to criticize. “I like working out since it makes me feel more clear-headed and positive,” she told Parade last month. “[But] then I read comments on my Twitter page about how I’m waddling into Pilates and I go, ‘Wow, that’s a really mean thing to say. I just had a baby three weeks ago!’” Duff, 24, adds that it helps she has no projects in the works “that I have to bust my butt to get into shape for, so it’s more about how I feel … There is a little bit of pressure, but most of it comes from me.”

Do you think there is an unfair pressure put on women to lose baby weight quickly?

Article source: http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/goddess/bollywood-star-aishwarya-rai-blasted-not-losing-baby-215834295.html

By Clare Kane

LONDON |
Thu May 17, 2012 9:44am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) – A Chinese junk, Venetian gondolas and a boat rowed by Olympic champions will be part of the 1,000-vessel flotilla on London’s River Thames as part of a pageant to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee next month, organisers said on Thursday.

The queen, who is celebrating 60 years on the throne this year, will also be accompanied by a host of musicians playing everything from Bollywood songs to James Bond theme tunes when up to a million spectators gather along the Thames on June 3.

“This will be a historic event in the life of London and indeed the nation, really without parallel in scale and vision,” Michael Lockett, chief executive of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation said at briefing in central London.

London mayor Boris Johnson was in Greece to collect the Olympic torch, but sent a video message saying he expected the flotilla to be “like Dunkirk except more successful”, a reference to the evacuation of British troops from France during World War Two.

Olympic and Paralympic champions including five-time rowing gold medal winner Steve Redgrave will lead the flotilla in a vessel also manned by soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The first Chinese junk to visit London since the Great Exhibition in 1851 will join the flotilla, as well as several gondolas, passenger ships, kayaks and lifeboats.

The flotilla will be over seven miles long and travel 25 miles of the Thames, passing every bridge in central London, some of which will be open to spectators.

The cost of the pageant will be about 10.5 million pounds and organisers are “virtually there” in reaching their target through private funding, said Lord Salisbury, former conservative politician and chairman of the Foundation.

The pageant’s music will start with a peal of bells, followed by performances from a number of groups, including an ensemble that will play Bollywood tunes and Scottish songs on bagpipes.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra will tailor their repertoire depending on their location, playing the James Bond theme tune as they pass the headquarters of MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence agency.

Last month a protester disrupted the globally televised annual Oxford and Cambridge boat race on the Thames. But organisers said they were confident of the flotilla security arrangements, with all 20,000 participants being vetted.

“The Metropolitan Police will be there to create the right atmosphere, policing in an unobtrusive but alert style,” said Stephen Kavanagh, deputy assistant commissioner of London’s police force.

More than 5,000 police officers and 7,000 of the Foundation’s stewards will keep an eye out for any protests in the style of elitism protester Trenton Oldfield, who swam into the middle of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race course, forcing the crews to halt and then restart the race.

David Phillips, the chief harbourmaster of the Port of London Authority, said there would also be a safety lane along the length of the flotilla to ensure quick action in case of an accident.

“The object is this – it is to thank the Queen for 60 years hard labour,” said Lord Salisbury. “She makes it look easy, and as anybody who has tried to do anything professional knows, that is an indication of being very good through much hard work.”

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/uk-britain-jubilee-flotilla-idUSLNE84G03220120517