Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan gets real about body shaming comments.
“You know what was really weird, when I was filming that series, I was exercising because I knew I had to,” Coughlan, 39, said. Elle UK in a profile on Wednesday, March 4, when asked about filming her nude scenes. “I had lost weight, [and] I was probably a size 10 and one of the corsets was a size 8.”
She continued, “And people were talking about how big I am and I was like, ‘How are we happy that I’m the biggest woman you want to see on screen?'”
Coughlan stars as Penelope Bridgerton (née Featherington) on Netflix Bridgerton. The actress led season 3, which tells the love story of Penelope and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) during her burgeoning career as the then-unknown gossip columnist Lady Whistledown.
Apart from being criticized for his body, the actor also inspired another group of fans.
“I remember this girl who was really drunk talking to me in the bathroom saying, ‘I loved me.’ [Bridgerton] because of your body,’ and he started talking about my body,” Coughlan recalled in the store. “I was like, ‘I want to die. I hate this so much.’ It’s really hard when you work on something for months and months of your life, you don’t see your family, you really dedicate yourself and it comes down to how you are. It’s very exciting.”
Coughlan has long been an aggressive advocate, even asking to appear naked Bridgerton.
Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton and Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Bridgerton in season 4.
Liam Daniel/Netflix“I specifically asked for certain lines and times to be included,” he said A stylist in May 2024. “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, which I chose. It turned out to be the biggest f*** in the conversation around my body.
According to Coughlan, he “felt good” at the time.
“I thought, ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back at this and remember how hot I looked!'” she quipped to the magazine.
Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan is a proud member of the “whole breast community.” The Irish actress had a funny – and cheeky – response to comments about her body on Friday, June 6, at a fan show in Dublin, Ireland, after she was told she was “very brave” to play Penelope Featherington in the Regency-era drama, […]
Weeks later, Coughlan again praised the show’s inclusion of her nudity.
“You know, it’s hard, because I think women with my body — women with full breasts — we don’t get to see ourselves on screen enough,” she joked during a June 2024 panel discussion. “I’m a very proud member of the beautiful breast community, and I hope you enjoy seeing them.”
Coughlan reprises his role Bridgerton season 4, which returned to Netflix last month.
