Aishwarya Rai’s sister-in-law Shrima Rai says she was painted as a ‘shady character’: ‘Just because you are a fan of…’

Shrima Rai and Aishwarya Rai

A few months ago when Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan’s divorce rumours were doing the rounds on the internet, trolls attacked the former Miss World’s sister-in-law Shrima Rai accusing the later of using the actress’s name for her fame. Shrima Rai, who is married to Aishwarya’s brother Aditya Rai, is a beauty and fashion blogger.

Talking to Mohsinaa Ahmad on his YouTube channel, Shrima Rai didn’t take Aishwarya’s name but shared how she was affected when she started getting portrayed as a “shady character.” She said, “It was almost like when you watch those Indian TV dramas, a new character came and that new character was Shrima Rai. That’s how I felt. I felt like a new character in this Bollywood saga that they were writing about. Some trolls started comparing unnecessarily. Like there’s no way you can compare one woman’s journey to another’s journey. There’s no one who is saying to say that that woman hasn’t done what she has done and accomplished amazing amazing things. Of course, respect is there for that but it doesn’t mean you have to disrespect somebody else. Just because you are a fan of that person, doesn’t mean you have to be a troll of this person.”

Shrima further stated that she was “immensely hurt” after people started ignoring her own career as a blogger. She added that she didn’t want her connection to the Aishwarya Rai’s family as her “calling card.” “I didn’t want that to be my calling card and it’s one thing to have the support of whoever you are related to, that’s something else. But if you are doing it on you own and you own that, it’s very unfair for someone to take that away from you without having an interview”, she concluded.

A few months ago, trolls started questioning why Shrima Rai had never posted about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. She had shared the photo of the flowers sent to her by Abhishek Bachchan’s sister Shweta Bachchan and her husband Nikhil Nanda. She was blamed for causing rift in the Bachchan family amid reports around Abhishek and Aishwarya’s divorce.