Nicola Coughlan has had enough of people body-shaming her. Since the 37-year-old debuted on Bridgerton's pilot season in 2020, the Irish actress has dealt with innumerable unsolicited comments about her physical appearance. At one point, she even had to call out a tweet that called her "the fat girl from Bridgerton."
But if you think all these uncalled-for remarks and nonstop body-shaming are going to keep her from slaying her role in Netflix's regency-era romance drama and make her shy away from showing some skin, well, think again. Because if the first half of season three is any proof to go by, Nicola Coughlan wants everyone to know that she's not ashamed of her body—rather, she's damn proud of it!
Did You Know? Nicola Coughlan Requested for Her "Very Naked" Scenes in Bridgerton
In case you missed it, the highly anticipated first part of Bridgerton Season 3 has dropped last Thursday, May 16, with the latter half arriving on June 13. This time around, the spotlight is on the third eldest Bridgerton sibling, Colin (played by Luke Newton), and his blossoming romance with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlin). And in true Bridgerton fashion, there is no shortage of steamy sex scenes—some of which were initiated by Nicola herself.
In an interview with Stylist magazine, Nicola revealed that she "specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included" in the episodes, which entailed her being "very naked on camera."
She shared, "There's one scene where I'm very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest 'f*ck you' to all the conversation surrounding my body. It was amazingly empowering."
While intimate scenes are typically some of the most uncomfortable to shoot for an actor, for Nicola, she found the whole process rather empowering. Working with intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot, the actress also had a say in choosing what were to be included in the explicit scenes.
Nicola said, "I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: 'When I'm 80, I want to look back on this and remember how fucking hot I looked!'"
Nicola Coughlan on Speaking Up Against Body-Shaming
While Nicola would much rather prefer to be called an actor versus a "body positivity activist," she has not shied away from speaking up about such important matters in the past.
In January 2022, Nicola took to a now-deleted Instagram post to call out unsolicited comments about her body. "Hello! So just a thing — if you have an opinion about my body, please, please don't share it with me," her post reads. "Most people are being nice and not trying to be offensive, but I am just one real-life human being, and it's really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day. If you have an opinion about me, that's OK, I understand I'm on TV and that people will have things to think and say, but I beg you not to send it to me directly."
Back in 2018, the actress—who also starred in the 2018 Netflix sitcom Derry Girls— penned a piece for The Guardian, entitled "Critics, judge me for my work in Derry Girls and on the stage, not on my body."
Part of it reads: "I’m very lucky to get to use my body to become all these fascinating women. But the prism through which my body is viewed is inescapable."
"I know I’m not alone; women in my industry are put under constant scrutiny for their looks. It affects male actors as well – I had messages from them – but the vast majority of feedback was from women...I hope in the future that more people will talk about our work, our inspirations, our drive, rather than our looks. A revolution is happening, and I want to play my part in it."
You keep doing you, Nicola!
The first half of Bridgerton Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix. Part two arrives on June 13, 2024.
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