Nicola Coughlan is not happy with ‘plus-size heroine’ label after Bridgerton sex scenes: ‘Don’t call me brave’

‘Bridgerton’ star says she wants to be known for her dedication to the Netflix series, rather than for her body

Nicola Coughlan has opened up about comments regarding her body in the latest season of Bridgerton.

The Irish actor, who stars as Penelope Featherington in the Netflix historial drama series, portrayed season three’s main love interest opposite Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). Throughout the season, which debuted last May, Coughlan gained a large amount of recognition for showing nudity during Bridgerton’s intimate scenes.

However, in a recent interview with Time as part of the magazine’s “Next Generation Leaders” issue, she admitted that she didn’t like being labeled a “plus-sized heroine” as a result of the scene.

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

She explained how some interviews would very quickly become about her body, and not so much about the effort she put into the show as a whole. “I’m a few sizes below the average size of a woman in the UK and I’m seen as a ‘plus-size heroine,’” the Derry Girls star remarked. “I worked my a** off for that show. I barely saw my family and friends, and people were just going, ‘But your body…’”

Although the comments were seemingly meant to be taken as a compliment, Coughlan maintained that she “doesn’t take it as nice.”

Nicola Coughlan stars as Penelope Featherington in the Netflix historical drama series, ‘Bridgerton’ (LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX)

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

This isn’t the first time Coughlan has clapped back on comments about her body. During a June screening of Bridgerton season three at the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin, a fan told Coughlan she was “very brave” for filming her nude scenes.

In response to the fan’s remark, Coughlan poked fun at why she had the bravery to film her nude scenes. “You know, it is hard, ‘cause I think women with my body type, women with perfect breasts… We do not get to see ourselves onscreen enough,” she quipped during the Q&A session, according to a video shared to X/Twitter.

She went on to hilariously praise her appearance in the Netflix program, adding: “I am a proud member of the perfect breasts community, and I hope you enjoy seeing them.”

Coughlan previously revealed in a May 2024 interview with Stylist that she decided to be naked on camera. She explained that she had worked closely with the show’s intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, to merge the scripts with the choreography, adding: “I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included.”

“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*** you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering,” she said. “I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought, ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f***ing hot I looked!’”