Nicola Coughlan Is Bored Of Talking About Her Body

Nicola Coughlan is bored of talking about her body — and wouldn’t you be too?

The Bridgerton star, who led the series in season three as her character Penelope married Colin, has long been defined by her body, and most notably her weight.

Nicola has since said that she finds it boring that much of the narrative around the show was about what she looked like — rather than her performance.

“People talked about how I was plus size, and I was like, How f*cked are we that I am the biggest woman you want to see on screen?” she told Elle UK.

 

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Nicola said that once the season dropped, she would meet fans who would immediately talk about her body.

“I remember this really drunk girl once talking to me in a bathroom being like, ‘I loved [Bridgerton] because of your body.’ And started talking about my body, and I was like, ‘I want to die. I hate this so much…” she said.

“It’s really hard when you work on something for months of your life, you don’t see your family, you are really dedicated yourself, and then it comes down to what you look like – it’s so f*cking boring.”

Nicola went on to say that she actually lost weight ahead of shooting season three.

“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 eight,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Nicola has questioned why her body is apparently the most interesting thing about her.

Back in 2024, she was dubbed “brave” and a “plus sized heroine”, a moniker she was less than enthusiastic about receiving.

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

“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.’ Making it about how I look is reductive and boring.”

 

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As it turns out, Nicola’s body is far from the most compelling thing about her.

Over the past few years, the actor has raised hundreds of thousands of euros for Palestine, as well as raising vital awareness about the genocide and those suffering amidst it.

She is also starring in the upcoming film Magic Faraway Tree, theatre production The Playboy of the Western World, and will be leading the new season of Channel 4’s I Am.