Pregnant Jessica Simpson's Weight Gain Bashed by Joy Behar, Defended by Sarah Palin

USMagazine, Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 1:30pm (PDT)

That bump! Those outfits!

Jessica Simpson's super-pregnant body has everyone talking -- on both ends of the political spectrum.

Chatting with her co-hosts on The View Tuesday, Joy Behar fretted that the 31-year-old star, expecting her first child imminently with fiance Eric Johnson, has packed on too many pounds, calling the mom-to-be "fat."

"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," Behar, 69, opined.

PHOTOS: Jessica's news-making bump

"Most women who are pregnant are not supposed to gain more than 25 pounds. She looks like she gained a lot more than that."

Behar's View cohort Whoopi Goldberg was more sympathetic, admitting that she gained 90 pounds when she was pregnant with her own daughter. "I lost some of it. But some of it I didn't lose. You do what you have to do."

PHOTOS: Pregnant stars in heels!

Former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, meanwhile, had a totally different take.

"I would have wanted to punch [Jessica's critics] in the neck," mother of four Palin, 48, told Matt Lauer on TODAY Tuesday morning. "It's none of anybody else's business how much weight I would gain."

PHOTOS: Jaw-dropping post-baby bodies

"This isn't even an issue," she added, "Hollywood . . is full of itty-bitty people, people [who are] unrealistically tiny."

Lauer argued the attention paid to Fashion Star mentor Simpson's current size is simply "about contrast" to Simpson's former, super-svelte days wearing tiny Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots in 2005's Dukes of Hazzard.

"That was a different chapter of her life," Palin said. "I bet you she was exercising five or six hours a day back in those Daisy Duke days."

PHOTOS: Jessica's dating past

But Simpson reportedly already has a plan to fit back into those Daisy Dukes after her daughter is born this month: She reportedly signed a multi-million dollar deal with Weight Watchers to shed her baby weight.

For now, however, the star is reveling in her larger shape. "I'm like 170 pounds and I wanted to pose nude," said Simpson star shortly after her nude ELLE cover was revealed. "I try to be like 110 pounds. It's funny to be at your heaviest and feel the most confident. I just take such pride in being a mom! I just love my body more than ever now."

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly