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"Bridgerton" star Nicola Coughlan has spoken out about the continued public focus on her body, saying she has little interest in discussions surrounding body positivity and wants attention to remain on her work as an actress.
In an interview with Elle UK, the 39-year-old Irish actress, who plays Penelope Featherington in the Netflix period drama, addressed the commentary that followed her appearance in Season 3, which centers on Penelope's relationship with Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton.
Coughlan said she has never felt personally connected to body-positivity conversations and does not see it as a cause she wants to represent publicly.
"The thing I say sometimes that pisses people off is, 'I have no interest in body positivity,'" she told the outlet. "When I was a kid growing up, I never thought about that. I didn't look at actors and think about their bodies. So, I actually don't care."
She added that while she respects people who are passionate about the topic, it is not something she personally identifies with.
"There's a lot of things I'm passionate about, it's not one of them... That's someone else's thing. It's not mine."
Coughlan also reflected on what she described as the "bizarre" reaction to her appearance during filming for the show's third season. The actress explained that she had been exercising frequently at the time and had lost a noticeable amount of weight while preparing for scenes that included romantic moments between her character and Newton's Colin.
"You know what was really bizarre was, when I was shooting that series, I was exercising a lot because I knew I had to, so I had lost a bunch of weight – I was probably a size 10 and one of the corsets was a size 8," she said. "And then people talked about how I was plus size and I was like, 'How f----ed are we that I am the biggest woman you want to see on screen?'"
The actress said the focus on her body has also carried into real-life interactions with fans. She recalled an uncomfortable encounter with a fan who approached her in a public bathroom and began discussing her appearance.
"I remember this really drunk girl once talking to me in a bathroom being like, 'I loved [Bridgerton] because of your body,'" Coughlan said. "And started talking about my body, and I was like, 'I want to die. I hate this so much.'"
For Coughlan, the attention on her appearance has often overshadowed the effort that goes into her work as an actor. She said the experience can be frustrating after dedicating months to filming and spending long periods away from family.
Coughlan had previously addressed similar remarks in a 2022 Instagram message, where she asked people to stop sending her unsolicited opinions about her body. In the post, she explained that constantly receiving thousands of comments about her appearance directly from strangers online can be overwhelming and difficult to handle.
