THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jul 10, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
Huffington Post
HuffPost
17 Oct 2024


NextImg:Nicola Coughlan Has Some Thoughts On Being Called A 'Plus-Size Heroine'
LOADINGERROR LOADING

Nicola Coughlan is totally over her body being the focus of so much attention.

The “Bridgerton” star pushed back at the public’s fixation on her figure in a new interview with Time magazine where she scoffed at being called “brave” for going nude in the Regency-era romance series.

“Don’t call me brave. I have a cracking pair of boobs,” she said. “There’s nothing brave about that, that’s actually just me showing them off.”

“I’m a few sizes below the average size of a woman in the U.K. and I’m seen as a ‘plus-size heroine,’” said Coughlan, who plays the feisty Penelope Featherington on the show.

The Irish actor called the body talk all the more frustrating given how much she put into her performance.

“I worked my arse off for that show. I barely saw my family and friends, and people were just going, ‘But your body,’” she explained.

Nicola Coughlan attends a London screening of "Bridgerton" on June 12. The star pushed back on people's obsession with her body during an interview with Time.
Nicola Coughlan attends a London screening of "Bridgerton" on June 12. The star pushed back on people's obsession with her body during an interview with Time.
John Phillips via Getty Images

Though the actor understands that people mean the comments as a compliment, she said she doesn’t find them “nice” at all.

“Making it about how I look is reductive and boring,” Coughlan explained. “What if I was suddenly going to play a ballerina and lose a shit ton of weight, are you not going to like me anymore? That’s insane and so insulting.”

While speaking with Stylist for its May cover story, the “Derry Girls” star shared that she drove the decision to bare her body during her sex scenes with costar Luke Newton, who plays her love interest Colin Bridgerton on the show.

“There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice,” she revealed. “It just felt like the biggest ‘fuck you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering.”

Support Free Journalism

Consider supporting HuffPost starting at $2 to help us provide free, quality journalism that puts people first.

Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?

Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. We hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.

Support HuffPost

“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!’”