AceShowbiz -

Jessica Simpson has been the subject of media scrutiny for gaining "too many" pounds during pregnancy, but she apparently has Sarah Palin on her side. The 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate was serving as a guest host on the "Today" show when she weighed in on the singer's pregnancy weight gain.

On Tuesday, April 3 morning, Palin was asked by host Matt Lauer what she would have done if she was faced with similar criticism. "I would have wanted to punch them in the neck because it's none of anybody else's business," she commented, before pointing out, "You know why this is even an issue, Matt, is because that Hollywood image is full of itty bitty people, unrealistically tiny."

When Lauer argued that people paid attention to Simpson's size because of the contrast between her recent naked, pregnant ELLE cover and her Daisy Dukes days, the former Alaska governor said, "That was a different chapter of her life." She added, "I bet you she was exercising five or six hours a day back in those Daisy Duke days."

Sharing similar sentiment over Simpson's weight gain was Whoopi Goldberg. During the Tuesday edition of "The View", the 56-year-old comedienne revealed that she gained 90 pounds when she was pregnant with her own daughter. "I lost some of it," she added. "But some of it I didn't lose. You do what you have to do."

Goldberg's co-host Joy Behar, however, didn't hold back on her criticism. "Remember the the time that Jessica Simpson was criticized because she didn't know the difference between chicken and tuna? That kind of thing is more fun to criticize than the fact that the girl is fat," said the 69-year-old. "Most women who are pregnant are not supposed to gain more than 25 pounds. She looks like she gained a lot more than that."