Aishwarya Rai Personal Life

Personal life

Aishwarya is Hindu and deeply religious. Her favourite temple is a 200-year-old Lord Ganesha Temple.^[72]
In 1999 Aishwarya began dating Bollywood actor Salman Khan; their relationship was often reported in the media until the couple separated in 2001. Rai cited "abuse (verbal, physical and emotional), infidelity and indignity" on the part of Khan as a reason for ending their relationship.^[73] However, in a 2009 Times of India article Khan denied ever beating her: "It's not true that I hit a woman."^[74]
Rai is married to actor Abhishek Bachchan. Their engagement was announced on 14 January 2007 and later confirmed by his father, Amitabh Bachchan.^[75] The couple got married on 20 April 2007 according to traditional Hindu rites of the Bunt community to which she belongs. Token North Indian and Bengali ceremonies were also performed. The wedding took place in a private ceremony at the Bachchan residence "Prateeksha" in Juhu, Mumbai. They have been cited as a supercouple in the Indian media.^[76][77] Rai has been very close to her family and lived with them in Bandra, Mumbai, until her marriage.^[78][79]

International media

Rai has been the most popular face of Indian cinema globally. In 2003 Rai became a global brand ambassador of L'Oreal alongside Andie Macdowell, Eva Longoria and Penelope Cruz. In a poll conducted by UK's Hello magazine, she was voted the number-one in the list of "The most attractive woman of 2003".^[80] In the same year, Rai appeared in Rolling Stone magazine's annual "Hot List".^[81] In 2004 she was chosen by Time magazine as one of the World's "100 Most Influential People" after having already appeared on the magazine's cover in its 2003 Asia Edition.^[82][83] In October 2004 a wax figure of Rai was put on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum.^[84] She was the sixth Indian and the second Bollywood personality after her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan to get this honour.
In 2005, she was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on 2 January, which said that "at least according to thousands of Web sites, Internet polls and even Julia Roberts", she was "The World's Most Beautiful Woman".^[4] The same year, a special tulip in the Netherlands was named "Aishwarya Rai" after her.^[85] Also in 2005, Mattel released a limited edition of Barbie dolls of Aishwarya Rai in the United Kingdom.^[86]
Rai appeared on such shows as Late Show with David Letterman, and was the first Bollywood personality to appear on Oprah's "Women Across the Globe" segment. In 2005, Harpers and Queen's list of "10 Most Beautiful Women in The World" ranked her at the ninth spot.^[87] In May 2006, Aishwarya featured in American People Magazine as one of the "World's Most Beautiful People".^[88] In September 2006, the UK magazine Eastern Eye ranked her third in the list of "Asia's Sexiest Women".^[89] In 2007, Rai has become the first Indian celebrity to have her wax model displayed at Madame Tussauds Museum in historic Time Square in New York.^[90] In 2009 she made appearances on Martha Stewart's show Martha and The Tyra Banks Show, hosted by Tyra Banks.^[91][92] In the same year, Forbes listed Rai in the 387 position out of 1,411 actors as the most bankable Indian star in Hollywood.^[93][94] In 2010 she appeared for the second time in Time Magazine's list of "100 Most Influential People in the World".^[95] Rai appeared on the cover page of famous fashion magazine Vogue in its 2011 India Edition for the third time.^[96] In 2011, she attended the 83rd Academy Awards along with her husband Abhishek.^[97]

Awards and honors

Main article: List of Aishwarya Rai's awards and nominations

Aishwarya Rai is a two-time winner of Filmfare Awards. She was nominated for Filmfare Best Actress Award for nine times. In 2009, Rai was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions to Indian cinema.^[98] In the same year she refused to accept the second-highest Order Of France, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres as her father was suffering from serious illness, and she wanted her whole family to attend the award ceremony.^[99] She is only the fourth Indian actor after Amitabh Bachchan, Nandita Das and Shahrukh Khan to be chosen for an Order Of France.^[100] In June 2009, she was declared the Female Star of The Decade at the tenth International Indian Film Academy Awards held in Macau. In December 2010, she was declared the "Actress of the Decade" at the BIG Star Entertainment Awards.<sup>[101]

Source: Wikipedia.com</sup>