We introduce the notion of essential support of a simple Gelfand-Tsetlin $mathfrak{gl}_n$-module as an important tool towards understanding the character formula of such module. This support detects the weights in the module having maximal possible Gelfand-Tsetlin multiplicities. Using combinatorial tools we describe the essential supports of the simple socles of the universal tableaux modules. We also prove that every simple Verma module appears as a socle of a universal tableaux module and hence obtain a description of the essential supports of all simple Verma modules. As a consequence, we prove the Strong Futorny-Ovsienko Conjecture on the sharpness of the upper bounds of the Gelfand-Tsetlin multiplicities. In addition we give a very explicit description of the support and essential support of the simple singular Verma module $M(-rho)$