Aishwarya Rai confessed not having the perfect bikini body during Miss World competition: ‘I was told…’
Aishwarya Rai was crowned Miss World in 1994, becoming only the second Indian to win the title after Reita Faria in 1996. Her victory brought her international fame and paved the way of a successful career in both Bollywood and Hollywood. In later years, the former beauty queen expressed her discomforts with certain aspects of beauty pageant, one being the requirement of contestants to wear bikinis and swimsuits, which she felt was unnecessary for winning the crown.
Aishwarya Rai felt she didn’t have the perfect bikini body
In an old press conference, the actress confessed that despite being the winner of swimsuit round, she considered not having the perfect beach body. She said, “When I became Miss World, I was definitely not the best beach body of all the 87 contestants. I can vouch for it, I can put a stamp on it. And yet I won the title.”
Aishwarya Rai asked Miss World organisers to remove swimwear round from the competition
Aishwarya also revealed that she had spoken to the Miss World organisers, urging them to eliminate the segment. She said, “In fact, 1994 mein mere pageant ke baad (after my pageant), that year 1995 onwards hi unhone woh round cancel kar diya tha kyunke maine kaha ki (they cancelled that round as I had said) it wasn’t very naturally comfortable for some of us, nationalities. I wasn’t speaking solely for me, but I was really speaking for a lot of girls from countries where the swimwear round was not necessary… swimwear is not a natural way of life in terms of social display.”
Eventually, the Miss World organisers removed the swimsuit round from competition in 2014 to emphasise more on ‘brains and personality’ instead of just physical appearance. Miss World chairwoman Julia Morley shared with Elle Magazine, “I don’t need to see women just walking up and down in bikinis. It doesn’t do anything for the woman. And it doesn’t do anything for any of us.”
Aishwarya made her acting debut in 1997 with Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Iruvar. Her first Bollywood movie was Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, opposite Bobby Deol. She tied the knot with Abhishek Bachchan in 2007 and the couple have a 11-year-daughter Aaradhya Bachchan.
Aishwarya was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan:II (2023), which she starred alongside Chiyaan Vikram and Karthi. This is a sequel to the 2022 film, Ponniyin Selvan:I.
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